Coming Clean
by Still believes Snivellus aka Heather Granger
Summary: AU after HBP After being found unconcious in his room, Harry Potter wakes up to find his worst nightmare, or is it? SS, HP, AD, and OC.Read to find out! NO SLASH
1. Encounters

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
This story starts in Harry Potter's 6th year at Hogwarts during their Winter Holiday. I have taken liberties with Severus Snape and his past. Everything that looks familiar is JK Rowling's, and the new characters are my creations, but anyone can use them, because I write for fun, and just so I am able to read my own stories. This story may start off like several fics that you have read before, but trust me when I say I hope that it takes a much different turn. It features attempted suicide, so if you are not comfortable with that, then please do not read this story.  
  
I know my grammar is not the best, so if you are going to pointed out, please use specific examples so I can fix it in future chapters. Flames are fine, but if you are going to tell me that any of the main characters are out of character, I don't really care, because this is how I see the characters. I really don't mean to sound rude, but some flames I have gotten are just plain mean. Personally when I review, I stick to the saying "If you haven't got something nice to say than it is better to say nothing at all."  
  
******************************************************************* Chapter 1  
  
"Where are we going again, Eowyn?" Severus asked.  
  
"To the cinema. Oh come on don't give me that face, you promised."  
  
"Why do you insist on going to a Muggle cinema, anytime we go out?"  
  
"I don't know, I just get bored sometimes in our world." Eowyn said with a frown on her face.  
  
"I understand, but why to the cinema?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.  
  
"I guess it is because, when I see a film it allows me to escape to somewhere else."  
  
"All right, well we better get going or we will be late." Severus grabbed the keys off the door.  
  
"Eomer, we are leaving, will you be all right?" Eowyn called from the door.  
  
"Don't worry Sylvia and I will be fine, you two go have fun, it has been awhile." Eomer smiled.  
  
"All right, bye bunny, we will be home later." Eowyn said as she bent down and kissed Sylvia.  
  
"Be a good little girl for Uncle Eomer, no trouble. Go to be when he asks. Remember Santa is always watching." Severus said with a smile.  
  
"Bye bye daddy."  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
And with that they started the car and drove off into Muggle London. It was the first week of Christmas break, and one of the first that Albus had allowed him the full time off. There is a lot more to Severus Snape that most people know.   
"It is so good to have you home for more than a few days Severus."  
  
"I know, I am sorry that I have been staying up at the school so much, but with the Dark Lord still very much a threat, and the Potter boy acting the way he has."  
  
"What do you mean? What is wrong with him?"  
  
"He is feeling sorry for himself, what else is new? The boy is a walking time bomb, with all he is going through."  
  
"You could help him you know." Eowyn said politely.  
  
"Darling, I think we both know that it would not be a good idea. It could jeopardize everything, and you know the last think I want to do is put you and Sylvia in danger."  
  
"But darling, if he breaks, then we will never truly be free."  
  
"Potter is Albus's responsibility, not mine. I made that agreement with him long before Sylvia was born."  
  
"All right, let's just try and have a nice time at the cinema for once." Eowyn said trying to change the subject.  
  
"Yes, let's."  
  
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Back at Privet Drive, Harry had to spend Christmas with his relatives because the Headmaster had deemed it too unsafe for any students to remain over holiday. Harry was not very pleased with this and went straight to his room when his Uncle had reached their driveway, not saying a word the entire trip home.   
"Hedwig, go spend Christmas with Ron's family, or Hermione's, you know how Uncle Vernon hates you. Besides I am sure they are having a much happier time than I am." Hedwig gave an incompliant hoot.  
  
"Go on get out of here! You don't deserve to be with me. I kill everyone that comes near me! You better leave while you have a chance!" He choked on his tears.  
  
Harry broke down in his frustration. Why did it have to be him that everyone counted on? Why did Voldermort choose him? He wanted to be normal; he didn't want this heavy burden. He wanted to be free from everything; he wanted the pain to stop.  
  
It was at that moment he saw the scissors on his bedside table. He reached for them and slowly opened them up to reveal the inside blades. It was at that moment he pressed the metal to his flesh and closed his eyes.  
  
"Potter! Dinner, now!" Harry threw the scissors across the room, and wiped his eyes.  
  
"I am not hungry Uncle." He tried saying in a calm voice.  
  
"Fine, starve, I don't care, just don't complain to your kind that we aren't treating you well enough." Vernon Dursley grumbled.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
"Severus? Are you all right, ever since we got to the theater, you have been acting rather weird.  
  
"I don't know, I feel something, I can't tell yet what it is."  
  
"Is it him? Do you want to leave?"  
  
"No this is not the Dark Lord, it is different. My mind grows dark."  
  
"If you want to leave, we can."  
  
"No I will be fine, I want us to have a good time for once." Severus said trying to put on a smile for Eowyn.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Harry interrupted by his Uncle grew frustrated. He wanted to be done with everything once and for all. He grabbed for the scissors one more time, pressed the cool blade to his warm flesh, and tore.  
  
"AGGHH!" He yelled out.  
  
Severus let out a deep gasp, causing everyone in the theater to look.  
  
"Severus, let's go, right now!" Eowyn said worried.  
  
"Yes, I need... I need to go." He said struggling to regain his ragged breath.  
  
The two shifted out of their seats, and down to the car park.  
  
"What is going on?" Eowyn said franticly.   
  
"I think it is Potter. Something's happened to him."  
  
"How can you tell?"  
  
"There is a link between us, I can feel his pain." Severus muttered.  
  
"All right, if he is in trouble then we have to save him."  
  
"We need to get Albus."  
  
"Is there really time for that, if he is hurting as bad as you think, I doubt that there is much time. Where does he live?" She said getting behind the wheel of their magical car.  
  
"Little Whinging, 4 Privet Drive."  
  
"Well let's go then. Here take this and contact someone at Hogwarts." Eowyn said handing him the necklace that Albus gave her, in order to keep in touch with Severus at Hogwarts.  
  
Severus fumbled with the small ruby stone that lay in his hand. Once he held it upright, he muttered an incantation and it began glowing. The stone grew in size, it was now the size of Severus's head. This stone showed him the Great Hall. He quickly moved his fingers around the stone directing him to the Headmaster's office.  
  
"Albus? Are you there?" There was no answer. He quickly moved to the infirmary in hopes to find Poppy Pomfery.  
  
"Poppy?" He cried out. At this he saw the room light up and a women in a nursing outfit came scurrying out.  
  
"Severus? Whatever is the matter?" She asked.  
  
"I am not quite sure yet, but I need to speak with Albus. Do you know where he is?"  
  
"He has gone to Beauxbatons, to speak with Madame Maxine. He won't be back until tomorrow." At this Severus's face dropped.  
  
"Poppy I need you to do something. Write Albus a note, saying that there is a situation regarding the health of his "nephew". Put nephew in quotes."  
  
"What is going on?"  
  
"Something is wrong with Potter, but it is too risky sending a school owl with that information. He will understand what that means."  
  
"All right, is there anything that I can do?"  
  
"I will contact you after I find out what is going on." Severus said as he shrunk the ruby back down to its normal size.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
A few minutes later they reached Privet Drive, to find nothing amiss.   
  
"If Potter did this on purpose I am going kill him." Severus hissed.  
  
"Severus, you are not thinking rationally. Mr. Potter doesn't know about the connection you have with him. He couldn't have done it on purpose." Eowyn tried to explain.  
  
"Yes, right, I want you to stay here while I go check on the boy."  
  
"All right, are you sure you don't need any help?"  
  
"No, please just stay here, I'd rather he keep thinking that I am the greasy nosed bastard that he thinks I am." Severus said without joking.  
  
"You better go, something could be really wrong."  
  
"Ok, I will be back shortly."  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Severus got out of the car and briskly walked to the front door of the little house. He knocked quickly three times. He waited and then heard footsteps, and backed away from the door.  
  
"Yes, who are you?" He asked gruffly.  
  
"My name is Severus Snape, and I come to inquire about Potter."  
  
"Are you one of them bloody wizards?"  
  
"Yes, if you wish to refer to me as that. Now please I got notification that Mr. Potter was under duress, and it is mandatory that I speak with him right away." Severus said growing irritated by this overgrown excuse for a Muggle.   
  
"The boy is fine, I spoke to him not but half hour ago."  
  
"Sir, believe me, I am aware just as much as you are how annoying the boy can be, but I would feel better if I could have a few words with him."  
  
"Fine, upstairs second door on the right." Vernon had had enough bad experiences with wizards that he did not wish to aggravate this one. Especially since he looked like he was capable of some serious damage.  
  
Severus walked quickly up the stairs. His wrists were starting to burn, as he got closer to the boy's room.  
  
"Mr. Potter?" There was no answer.  
  
"Mr. Potter, there better be a good reason you dragged me to your house on my first real Christmas break." Severus said louder. There was still no answer, so at this Severus unlocked the boy's door and gasped at the scene before him.  
  
There was blood all over the boy's comforter and some on the carpet. The boy was unconscious on the floor. Severus grabbed the boy and walked quickly out of the house. This boy needed to be healed, and here was not the right place for it.  
  
"Where are you taking him?" Vernon asked as he saw Severus carry the boy out the front door.  
  
"Away from here." And with that Severus got in the back seat with the boy's head on his lap, and his body sprawled out on the other seat.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
"Oh dear!" Eowyn gasped when she saw the boy.  
  
"Eowyn, I need you to head towards Hogwarts. We have to get this boy help." Severus said trying to remain calm.   
  
"All right, can't you do anything for him?"  
  
"I will try, all I want you to do is drive." Severus said quickly.  
  
"The poor boy, I wonder what happened?" She asked.  
  
"There is time for questions later, right now I need to concentrate." Severus wrapped his large hands around the 16-year-old boy's wrists and closed his eyes.  
  
No matter what he tried the wounds were not healing. He had only seen this one other time and that was with another student of his.  
  
"Eowyn, how far are we from the house?"  
  
"Our house?"  
  
"Yes, I don't think he can make it all the way to Hogwarts, not in the state he is in."  
  
"I can make it in 10 minutes."  
  
"Okay, we have no other choice. These are self-inflicted wounds that is why they aren't healing with my help. I need a potion that will allow me to open his mind."  
"Is there anything you can do to help him until we get there?"  
  
"I am trying. I need you to contact Poppy again and tell her what is going on." Severus said, hoping that they wouldn't be too late.  
  
*******************************************************************   
  
TBC 


	2. Disputes

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
Thanks for the reviews. I loved them. Here is the next chapter, it is a little shorter, but I was trying to find a good breaking point. I hope you enjoy! :)  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Amongst all the chaos, Harry Potter was struggling to live. He had lost a considerable amount of blood, and all the color had drained from his face. His heart was beating irregularly, and sweat was forming on his forehead.  
  
It would be a lie, if Severus said he wasn't scared. The look on the boy's face horrified him. Despite all of the name calling, and the number of times he took house points away from him for no real reason, Severus did not hate the boy.   
  
"We are getting close Severus, how is he doing?" Eowyn asked in concern.  
  
"The bleeding has lessened, but his breathing is very shallow. Of all the stupid things to do to himself, he chooses this. If the boy only knew what he means to so many witches and wizards out there."  
  
"Perhaps that is the problem Severus, maybe he should know." Severus didn't know how to respond.  
  
Severus gently carried him into his own house, and placed him on the guest bed in the back of the house. Eowyn used the floo in order to contact Poppy, who had the potion Severus required waiting. Poppy had informed them that Albus was on his way back from France, and should arrive shortly.  
  
"Severus, do you want me to do this?" Poppy asked her co-worker.  
  
"No, it is easier if I do it, I know where the problem is." And with that Severus forced the potion down Harry's throat and waited a minute for it to take hold. Then with both his hands wrapped around the boy's wrists he closed his eyes and dove into Harry's mind.  
  
"Mr. Potter? Harry?" Severus called out.  
  
"Listen to me Harry, of all the ridiculous things to do, this has got to be the worst. Harry, your life means so much to so many people, and if you give it up without even trying, then perhaps I was wrong about you."  
  
"Why should it be me? I didn't want any of this." Harry answered back in a faint echo.  
  
"So do many who have lived to see these dark times. You were chosen because you have the will to overcome all this. You must be strong. Don't throw the life that your parents gave you away, not when they have already given themselves for you."  
  
There was a snap, and Severus knew that he had succeeded, if only temporarily.  
  
"Poppy, you can finish. The wounds should heal now. I will be out in the other room if you need assistance." He was tired, he hated going into another's mind, even if once he craved for the knowledge of the art of Occumelmcy.  
  
"He should be all right now. He has lost quite a bit of blood. I am afraid that I cannot move him, until he regains his strength. He is sleeping now, I trust that you can look after him for a few days?" Poppy said, as if there was no other option.  
  
"No, the boy is not staying in my house. I saved him, that is enough. I will not keep him in my own home two days before Christmas, with my wife and child here."  
  
"Severus, there is no other way." Poppy said.  
  
"She is right Severus." Severus turned his head around so fast that he caused his neck to pop. Albus Dumbledore was standing by the fire.  
  
"Poppy, you may go back to Hogwarts, I need to speak with Severus alone." With this Poppy looked a little miffed, and grabbed the pot of floo powder from the mantel place.  
  
"Severus, thank you for what you did tonight, I know that this is not in your job description, nor is it anything you wish to do, but Harry needed you tonight, and I am glad you were there to come to his aid."  
  
"Of course Headmaster, but this is the first holiday I have had since Sylvia was born, and now with Potter here..."  
  
"Perhaps, it is time to share with him."  
  
"No. I will not."  
  
"I can not force you, nor do I want to, but I think that you will find that Harry is very loyal, and would never abuse any information you choose to share with him."  
  
"I think we both can agree that what happened tonight was on Potter's own accord, no one else's."  
  
"Exactly, do you want the one person that could help you, to be so unstable that he will be bound to fail? It is time Severus, help him fulfill his destiny. That bond you share with him is not accidental."  
  
"I will allow him to stay, as for the rest, I will not make any promises." Severus said.  
  
"Don't worry Albus, I will see that Mr. Potter is taken care of, and I will make Severus behave." Eowyn stepped into the room.  
  
"Eowyn! How good it is to see you, where is that adorable daughter of yours?"  
  
"She is in bed, fortunately, with all this commotion, I was afraid she wake."  
  
"Eowyn, how long have you been standing there?" Severus asked.  
  
"Long enough to know that you are too old to be acting your daughter's age." Severus gave her an 'I will talk to you later' look, and turned his attention back to the Headmaster.  
  
"I am sorry I have to rush off, but I am trying to arrange a meeting with the French Ministry of Magic. I trust that you will owl me if you need anything?"  
  
"Yes, and I will try Albus." Severus said.  
  
"I know you will. He needs you more than you might think." Albus turned and apparated out of the Snape's living room.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Severus and Eowyn went to bed after checking on Harry and Sylvia, they both agreed that it had been a long day.  
  
"Eowyn, do you really think the boy will understand?" Severus asked as he held his wife close to him in bed.  
  
"Severus, I think you underestimate him. He has dealt with just as much, and maybe even more than you have, and he is after all a Gryffindor, you have to know that they have the wonderful ability of loyalty." Eowyn said with a smile.  
  
"God, Harry's going to know my whole bloody personal life after this." He said with a shudder.  
  
"Maybe it won't be as bad as you think."  
  
"Yes, it could get a lot worse." Severus turned out the bedside light with a flick of his wrist and laid awake for most of the night. 


	3. Remorse

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
So I forgot to mention that I do have hints of Lord of the Rings things in the story. A major part of it will come later, but I just love some of the lines that are in the movies, and the books as well. I hope you all don't mind.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"AAAGGHH!" Harry sat bolt upright, which caused him to get extremely dizzy, so he laid back down slowly.  
  
"SYLVIA?" Severus cried.  
  
"No dear I think that is Harry, Syliva doesn't sound like that." Eowyn corrected him.  
  
Severus turned on the light and rolled out of bed. He had just fallen asleep an hour earlier. He grabbed his robe and threw it on.  
  
"I will go check on him. Go back to bed darling." Severus said kissing her on the forehead.   
  
"Mr. Potter, may you please explain why you chose É 4o'clock in the morning to wake the dead?" Severus said as he glanced at the clock.  
  
"Snape? Where am I, where have you taken me?" Harry asked confused.  
  
"Mr. Potter, to answer your first question, you are in my house. To answer the second, I have taken you nowhere. You brought yourself here with the little stunt you played earlier this evening." At this all of Harry's memories of the scissors and Hedwig came flooding back to him.  
  
"Why am I at your house?" He tried to ask in a more normal tone.  
  
"Because Mr. Potter, I sensed you were in danger, so I brought you here. I however had no intentions of you staying, but the Headmaster insists that you stay until you are well. So you have once again made my life miserable." Severus said tired.  
  
"Then why didn't you just let me die."  
  
"Because then I wouldn't get to have all this fun." He said sarcastically.  
  
"I am just a nuisance to everyone, I should have just died, and then I could have been with people who love me." Harry said.  
  
"Do you know what happen to people who commit suicide, Harry?" Severus asked. Surprised to hear his first name he took a moment to respond.  
  
"No sir."  
  
"They become ghost. They then live a half life, neither living nor dead. They are a waste of space, because they couldn't solve their problems in life, and they thought death would cure them, when in most cases it only causes them more pain. Except this time they can't escape until they have dealt with the problem, instead of trying to run away from it." Harry knew there was no one else on earth that was so blunt with him, and oddly he found this comforting.  
  
"I am sorry that I am a pain." Harry said looking away.  
  
"Listen to me Harry." Severus paused a moment. He knew after this that Harry would never go back to being the annoying student that he had to teach potions to. He would be in his life, and that was a hard thing for him to allow.  
  
"You are not a pain. I may act like it most of the time. There are appearances that must be up kempt and, children to be kept in a modicum of control. Do you remember what I told you earlier tonight? About having the will to overcome this?"  
  
"Wait a minute that was you in my mind?"  
  
"Yes, I had no other choice. Self-inflicted wounds will not heal until the person who did them will allow them to be."  
  
"I know you were just making up all of that stuff about my will, and how that it isn't what we are given but what we do with it that matters." Severus brushed back his hair, and looked into Potter's eyes.  
  
"No, Harry I wasn't making it up, but if you wish to continue thinking I did, then go right ahead." There was a long silence, until anyone spoke again.  
  
"You are still recovering, I suggest that you try and get some sleep." Severus said getting up off the chair.  
  
"Professor, um, I guess thanks for finding me." Harry said, not sure yet if Snape had done him a favor or not.  
  
"Potter, we will have another little chat tomorrow, right now I am too tired to try and convince you that you made the wrong decision." Severus said with his had on the doorframe.  
  
"Sir, if it isn't too much trouble, do you have any dreamless sleep potion?"  
  
"Give me a minute." Severus left the room to retrieve the potion that he kept close by his bed, and then returned.  
  
"Drink only half, if you drink it all it will have a bad reaction to the other potions that we have already given you." He said handing the bottle to him.  
  
"Thank you sir." Harry saw that his Professor was tired, and that he had probably annoyed him by waking him up. He drank the potion, and within a few minutes he was fast asleep.  
  
Severus walked up to the boy and removed his glasses from his face and put them on the bedside table.  
  
"Harry, please don't blame yourself." He whispered into the dark room.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
The next morning, Eowyn got up earlier to check on Sylvia and Mr. Potter.  
  
"Mummy?" Sylvia called from her bedroom.  
  
"Yes dearest?"  
  
"Can I get up yet?"   
  
"Yes, you may. Let's help mummy make your bed." Eowyn knew that the six year old couldn't possibly make her own bed yet, but there was nothing wrong with teaching her good habits early.  
  
"Mummy, can I have eggs for breakfast?"  
  
"Yes you may."  
  
"Can daddy make them for me?" Sylvia asked inquisitively.  
  
"No, daddy can't cook, but I can, and daddy can eat them with you."  
  
"I like it when daddy is home with me." Sylvia said looking up at her mother.  
  
"I know sweetheart, so do I."  
  
"Mummy who is that boy in the other room?"  
  
"That is Harry Potter, one of your father's students."  
  
"Why is he in our home?"  
  
"Because daddy is taking care of him for a few days."  
  
"But daddy promised me that he would take care of me."  
  
"He will sweetheart, but Mr. Potter is the boy that is going to help you and me, and it is very important that he stays safe, and daddy can help him." Eowyn tried to explain to her daughter.  
  
Eowyn finished dressing Sylvia, and sent her into the sitting room to play. She walked back to their bedroom and watched as Severus finished dressing. She remembered the day she fell in love with him, it was in St. Mungo's they were both there after an attack.  
  
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In the other room across the hall, Harry Potter was waking up. He reached for his glasses, and remembered that he had not put them there last night, but someone else must have, because Harry never folded back the earpieces onto the lenses at night. He looked carefully around the room, now that some daylight was shining in through an east-facing window.  
  
What Harry saw surprised him. The room was light, somewhat decorative, not the dark scary room that Harry had always pictured his professor to live in. There were pictures of Quidditch games, and far away places that Harry had never even heard of. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard his professor's voice.  
  
"Did he wake Sylvia last night, when he woke up?" Harry heard Snape say to someone.  
  
"A little, but she went right back to sleep." Harry heard an unfamiliar female voice say.  
  
"I am so sorry, I told Albus that I couldn't possibly do this, I mean it is the first holiday that I have had off in years, and nowÉ" Harry frowned when he heard this. He didn't understand if Snape hated him so much, why he saved him in the first place.  
  
"Severus, you are an honorable man, Harry needs someone right now. It is obvious that he is going through some emotional turmoil."  
  
"I know that and I feel bad for the boy, I really do, but why is it my job to sort his feelings out?" Harry gasped, Snape felt bad for him? What next?  
  
"It is your job because you promised Albus, and it is your job because Lilly asked it of you, and lastly because you care about the boy." Harry didn't know who this woman was but he seemed to like her.  
  
"I do care about him, but I have been acting so long, that I have forgotten what it is about the boy that makes me care so much for him, when everything I try to assist him with, he ignores. I know that he wishes it wasn't him, but he has no other choice, if he fails then he fails you and Sylvia, the Longbottom boy, the Granger girl, and countless others."  
  
"Do not think of that, the time will come for him, and he will know what is asked of him and he will not fail. You however, must provide him the tools that were set before you. It is time, you cannot hide the truth from him forever."   
  
Harry sat in bed with his mind reeling. What were they talking about, why would he fail this woman and another named Sylvia that he did not even know? How was she so sure that he would not fail, if he had failed before?  
  
"I know. Do you have any clothes for him to wear? His old ones were blood stained, and I am too tall for him to wear my clothes."  
  
"Well there are Septimus's clothes in the cupboard underneath the stairs." Eowyn said hesitantly.  
  
"No. I will simply shrink some of mine." He said not wanting to talk any further.  
  
Severus left their bedroom and walked to where Harry was staying, and stood in the doorway. Harry had heard him coming so he quickly turned over and pretended he was asleep. 


	4. Counseling

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
Thanks to my reviewers. And thanks for pointing out that my title was spelled wrong. I hate not having spell check on the Internet.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"Mr. Potter, are you awake?" He asked sharply. Harry rolled over and opened his eyes.  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Good, how do you feel?" He felt like he could hardly move, but didn't want to show his weakness, but then he thought that last night was probably the weakest he had ever been.  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine, sir." He corrected. If Harry were to be in his house, than he would respect the people in it.  
  
"Fine, sir." Harry replied. Now this was more like the Snape he knew.  
  
"No you're not fine, have you learned nothing from our private lessons last year?"  
  
"No, sir." Harry replied annoyed. Severus wondered why he had given in so quickly.  
  
"Here are some clothes for you, I had to toss your old ones, when was the last time those relatives of yours bought you new clothes?" He questioned.  
  
"Never."  
  
"Never, sir." He corrected again.  
  
"What do you mean never, you obviously had clothes." Severus asked again.  
  
"Those were my cousin's old clothes, sir."  
  
"Your cousin is twice the size of you, Mr. Potter."  
  
"My aunt doesn't want to spend the money, sir."  
  
"I shall discuss the matter with Albus, in the meantime, I hope these work." He said as he handed them to Harry.  
  
"Do you feel well enough to eat breakfast?" Harry wasn't sure. He still felt dizzy from the amount of blood that he had lost the night before.  
  
"I suppose, sir."  
  
"I think that it would be best. Is toast suitable?" Severus asked.  
  
"Yes." Harry answered, hoping that he could stomach it.  
  
"Yes, sir." Severus corrected.  
  
"You don't give up do you, sir?" Harry asked.  
  
"Constant vigilance, you should know that Potter."  
  
"Of course, sir." Harry wanted to ask him who he was talking to earlier, but decided that it would be best not to bring it up.  
  
Severus turned to leave, but saw the boy struggling to put his shirt on that he had given him. Severus knew that he was still very weak from the blood loss. He had to push aside his ego once again, and show some kindness.  
  
"Here, let me help you, you obviously are in no state to do it for yourself." Severus said, grabbing the shirt from the boy. Severus sat on the bed carefully moving Harry so that his back was supported by his left hand. He drew up the shirt and placed it over the boy's head, until it sufficiently settled into the correct place. He then held out the sleeves so Harry could push his arms through.   
  
Harry was a little shocked, Snape helping him? And to top it all of he was doing a good job of it too. Harry started to think that maybe he had done this before. He couldn't possibly picture his mean old Potion's professor to be skilled at dressing a child.  
  
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Severus brought Harry a food tray, and left it lying over him. Eowyn had made breakfast for them all, but Harry was to eat alone in his room.  
  
"Potter, here is some toast. As unappetizing as it sounds, you need to eat some."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"The Headmaster is coming back to check on you this morning, so expect him in an hour or so." Severus informed him.  
  
"Oh, coming back? Was he here before?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, last night, when ... well nevermind."  
  
"Sir? How did you know what I had done?" Severus looked at Harry. He wasn't sure how to answer.  
  
"I felt it." He said looking away from the boy's eyes, who reminded him so much of Lilly.  
  
"What do you mean, sir?"  
  
"I can sense danger. I felt the knife cut through my skin, as well as your own." He said simply.  
  
"Oh, I am sorry if I caused you pain." Harry said quietly.  
  
"Potter... I know that you think that you have caused Black's death."  
  
"What, I..."  
  
"Just stop. Let's try and act like adults just for one minute. First, you had good intentions. Second, Black got himself in trouble. Third, you proved to the ministry that the Dark Lord is back." Severus said matter-of-factly.  
  
"You really think that, even though you never told me?"  
  
"Why would I go round telling you that, Potter? Do you picture me as that type of person Potter?"  
  
"I don't know what I think of you anymore. One minute you're an asshole, the next you are perfectly decent." Harry said angrily.  
  
"Watch your language, boy!" Severus said frustrated, knowing that this would be the result of Harry staying in his house.  
  
"Sorry... sir." Harry said sarcastically.  
  
Severus was about to reply, when Albus Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder, and stopped him.  
  
"Thank you, Severus. I will talk to you in a few minutes. Please wait outside." Dumbledore said politely. Severus's eyes were glaring at Harry.  
  
"Of course, Headmaster." Severus managed to bite out.  
  
"Harry, I need to speak with you." The Headmaster said, looking into Harry's green eyes. Harry hated it when he saw the disappointment in Dumbledore's eyes.  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"I do not blame you for what occurred last night, in fact I blame myself." Albus said in a tired voice.  
  
"It wasn't your fault, sir."  
  
"Yes, Harry it was, I thought you would actively seek help, if you needed it. Instead you kept it all in, causing more damage to yourself."  
  
"And who would you have me talk to? Mrs. Weasly, Professor Lupin? They don't understand. No one can possibly understand what I am going through. I don't want to be famous, I don't want to have to vanquish Voldermort. I don't want any of it." Harry said choking on his tears. Albus took his hands, and wrapped Harry in his embrace, but he fought it.  
  
"No! You did this, you and your stupid prophecy!" Harry said angrily. Albus did not know how to respond, so he chose to take another path.  
"Harry, you might be surprised to know that more people that you know, have something that they can relate to you, on more than one occasion."  
  
"Like who?"  
  
"Like, Remus, Molly, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape." Harry scoffed, the last person in the world that could relate to him was Snape!  
  
"You must be kidding, Snape? He has no idea of my troubles."  
  
"Professor Snape, Harry. And yes he does."  
  
"Did you know that Professor McGonagall lost her husband in the war, and Molly, she lost a brother. You once asked me why I trust Severus, well there are things about him you do not know, and are about to find out. I realize that it is difficult growing up with all of this pressure, but I assure you, you have support if you need it." Albus said getting up off the bed.  
  
"Sir, I am sorry, I just get so angry and frustrated sometimes."  
  
"I know Harry, you remind me of someone else I know, when he was your age."  
"Who?"  
"Your father." Harry looked at Albus, and then reached out and hugged him. For the first time this year, he felt a little lighter.  
"I have to go talk to Professor Snape now, remember, if you need to talk to someone, try talking to him, he may surprise you." Albus winked, and walked out of the room. 


	5. Introductions

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
Thanks reviewers! Oh so I hope I am portraying Sylvia as six, because it has been a while since I have been around that age group. I am afraid I am making her act a bit young, tell me what you think.   
  
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Chapter 5  
  
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"Well, it looks like you are doing a fine job Severus." The Headmaster stated.  
  
"You have got to be kidding, how long will he stay?" Severus said.  
  
"As long as he likes, Severus," Eowyn interrupted.   
  
"Thank you Eowyn. Severus, I think it is time. I have kept it from him for too long. He has grown up so quickly, that I forget sometimes that I still treat him as a child."  
  
"Headmaster, if I may be so bold, but his little outburst proved to me that he is not ready. Who knows what he would do with the information?" Severus questioned.  
  
"He would not abuse it if that is what concerns you, like I said last night. Severus give the boy a chance. You are such a good father to Sylvia. Harry has no father, he has no one besides his friends to care for."  
  
"Christmas is tomorrow, what shall I do with him while I am at Eomer's?"  
  
"Take him with you. He has enough strength now to get out of bed. I suggest you prepare yourself for the ultimate test, of letting him into your heart."  
  
"You ask too much of me." Severus said defiantly.  
  
"No more than you ask of yourself, Severus." Albus replied.  
  
"I must go now, Severus, Eowyn, take care." And with that Albus was up the chimney.   
  
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"Mr. Potter?" Severus said as he stood in the boy's doorway.  
  
"Yes, sir." Harry answered.  
  
"Well?" Severus questioned.  
  
"Well, what, sir?"  
  
"Never mind, if you wish to come out of your room, the sitting room is down the hall." Severus said defeated. Hoping Harry would apologize to him was asking too much, obviously.  
  
"Thank you sir." There was a pause, and Severus turned to leave.  
  
"I am sorry, for earlier. I was out of line." Harry said quietly.  
  
"Apology accepted. Come with me Potter, I suppose I should introduce you." Severus said as he helped Harry out of bed. Harry was taken aback, but admitted that it felt nice to have an adult actually care for him.  
  
"Introduce me to who?"  
  
"My family." Harry's eyes widened. So that woman he was speaking to last night was related to him.  
  
"Don't looked so shocked, your face will freeze that way." Severus joked. Harry was now thinking that he had woken up in some new parallel universe, where the greasy, pointy nosed, Snape was funny.  
  
Severus guided him to the sitting room where Harry laid eyes on a beautiful brown haired witch, and by her feet was a young girl with black hair and blue eyes. The little girl's eyes were mesmerizing.   
  
"Mr. Potter, this is my wife Eowyn Snape. You may address her as Madame Snape." Severus said.  
  
"Posh, Harry, you may call me Eowyn." She said giving him a hug, which caught Harry off guard.  
  
"Nice to meet you ma'am." Harry said.  
  
"This is our daughter, Sylvia." Severus said after Eowyn had let go of the boy.  
  
"Sylvia, stand up and introduce yourself to our guest." Severus instructed. Harry smiled, Severus wasn't as cold hearted as everyone thought, but he sure did enjoy discipline.   
  
"Hello sir, my name is Sylvia Lillian Snape, and I am six years old, and my father says that you can help us." She said in a succinct voice. Harry was a little confused by what the little girl said, and looked to Severus.  
  
"Thank you Sylvia." Severus said looking at Eowyn, who both exchanged looks of 'it isn't my fault'.  
  
"Nice to meet you Miss Sylvia." Harry said politely.  
  
"Harry, sit down." Eowyn said gently.  
  
"Thank you." Harry took a seat in one of the large leather couch. Harry looked around the tidy little sitting room. There were portraits of Eowyn and Severus scattered along the mantle. There was a large picture of what Harry surmised to be Sylvia as a baby. Despite the mixed feelings he had for his Professor, he had to admit that he would have liked to be apart of this family, and that scared him even more than waking up to find Snape hovering over him.  
  
"So Harry, Severus tells me that you are quite a talented Seeker." Harry thought that Snape never noticed any of his good traits, but there was that one time during his 1st year that he had wished him good luck.  
  
"Um, yes I am on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but I don't know how good I am." Harry said modestly.  
  
"Severus and I were both on the Quidditch team at Hogwarts, although I am a bit younger than him." Eowyn said politely.  
  
"What position did you play?" Harry asked.  
  
"I was a Chaser, Severus was a Beater, but I never played Severus, in fact I didn't know Severus until after schooling." Severus gave her a look, but Eowyn did not mind her husband, and enjoyed playing these little games with him.  
  
"So how is the old Gryffindor team, you know Harry when I was in school..." Severus made a large "Ahem." Noise, and Eowyn stopped.  
  
"Oh it is fine, now that Wood is gone, Angelina's taken over, and that was a bit difficult with the Quidditch ban last year by that Umbridge woman." Harry said annoyed, happy to be having a real conversation for once.  
  
"Severus said that she was a pain. Quite odd, she must still not be over the death of her daughter." Eowyn said, not realizing what had just came out of her mouth.  
  
"Please stop talking to me like I am not here." Severus said annoyed.  
  
"Then interject, youÕre the one that is being anti-social." Eowyn scolded.  
  
"Excuse me, but what do you mean, that she is still not over the death of her daughter?" Harry asked.  
  
"What my wife meant, was that Dolores Umbridge had a daughter named Morgana, who was killed by the Dark Lord. She thought that you were being possessed by him, and thus did everything in her power to make your life miserable last year, more so that what I do." Severus said getting up out of his chair and going over to Sylvia who was playing with some blocks on the floor.  
  
"You mean she wasn't in allegiance with Voldermort?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, she is just a tired old woman, who has nothing to live for but to get revenge over the death of her daughter, which she manifested into some huge conspiracy, with help from the moron Fudge. Fudge had convinced her that you were the source of all her problems, and if you were dead, then the Dark Lord would be as well. Which of course is absolutely ridiculous." Snape said scoffing at the end.  
  
"Did you just come up with all of that, or how did you know that?" Harry asked again.  
  
"How? Potter, do you seriously think that being a spy for the Headmaster taught me nothing? I have many connections, and my magical abilities are more that sufficient to get the kind of information that I am in search of. I wouldn't have gotten this far and still be alive, if I did not know what I was doing."  
  
"No, of course you know what you are doing." Harry said simply.  
"Harry, would you like anything to drink?" Eowyn asked.  
  
"No thank you." Harry replied.  
  
"Harry, come play with me." Sylvia asked as she tugged on his shirt.  
  
"All right what are you playing?" Harry asked the little girl.  
  
"Well I am building a castle, a big one like my daddy works at." Sylvia told Harry.  
  
"Ah, well it is your lucky day, because I know what that castle looks like. Did you know your daddy teaches me Potions?" Harry asked as he helped her add the finishing touches to her castle.  
  
"Of course I know that, daddy says that you are medi..medi..." Sylvia couldn't finish the big word that her father used.  
  
"Mediocre, darling." Severus finished for her. Harry laughed for the first time in weeks. This was the teacher he was use to, and Sylvia trying to pronounce that large word made him smile.  
  
"Well I guess that is better than being horrid." Harry said.  
  
"Trust me Harry, if you are mediocre in Potions, that is a compliment from my husband." Eowyn laughed.  
  
"You should feel quite honored Potter, last year you were abysmal, but you have moved up in ranking." Severus laughed. Harry felt oddly at ease with the Snapes. He wondered why Snape had to be such a horrid Professor. Everyone in the school, save Slytherin was afraid of him. But being here with his family, Harry saw that he was just a man, not a dictator, nor a commander. He had feelings and emotions. For Harry this was all a little unexpected.   
  
Harry got up and excused himself back to the bedroom that he was occupying, he couldn't be around the happiness. It hurt him to think that he never had that, nor would he ever have that kind of happiness with his parents. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he walked out of the cozy sitting room.  
  
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"Daddy?" Sylvia asked her father who was sitting next to her mother.  
  
"Yes darling?" He answered.  
  
"Why was the Harry boy sad?" She asked.  
  
"His parents died when he was very young, he never knew them. Remember when I told you about how there was the mean dark wizard, who everyone feared? And how somehow Mr. Potter was able to reduce him to nothing but a ghost?"   
  
"Oh, yes, but Daddy, that scary wizard won't come back, will he?" She asked frightened.  
  
"Sylvia, do you remember when I told you that there was a reason that you and mummy were so special?" Severus asked his daughter.  
  
"Yes, it is because of the scary wizard, but you said that the Harry boy can help us, free us, right?" She asked her father looking into his eyes.  
  
"That is right, but in order for Mr. Potter to help you, he has to kill the Dark wizard, not just make him go away." Severus tried to explain.  
  
"Oh, but you won't get hurt will you daddy? Or mummy, she can't get hurt either?" She asked again. Severus was unsure how to answer, he wanted to tell her that he wouldn't, but he couldn't make any promises. He didn't know what was going to happen.  
  
"Sylvia, I will always be with you, no matter where I am. I am right here." He said as he pointed to her heart.  
  
"Ok daddy. Can we play now?" She asked sweetly.  
  
"Of course, what shall we play?"  
  
"Goblins and werewolves!" She exclaimed.  
  
"Well you better run, because this werewolf is going to get you!" He said in a playful voice, running after his daughter. Eowyn looked on with pleasure. It had been a long time since Severus had spent quality time with Sylvia or her, and she was happy to have him home, if even for a short time. 


	6. Comfort Food

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
Thanks for all the reviews. By the way, I tried to fix all the sentences that start with And. The only situation that I did not change it, is if it was speaking dialogue.  
  
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Chapter 6  
  
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Later that afternoon, there was a knock on Harry's bedroom door.  
  
"Harry?" Eowyn called out.  
  
"Yes, ma'am?" He answered.  
  
"Please, stop calling me ma'am, it makes me feel old. Eowyn is fine. Don't mind Severus's formality. It was just that was how he was raised, and he thinks that it teaches children good values, but we can dispense of it for the moment, besides he has gone out with Sylvia to do some last minute Christmas shopping." She said smiling at him.  
  
"Did you need some help with something Eowyn?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, I just came to see if you would be interested in baking some Christmas biscuits with me."  
  
"Oh, well I am not really good at baking, I would just get in the way." Harry said shyly.  
  
"Oh, posh! Come on, you have been sulking for too long."  
  
So Eowyn dragged Harry out of his room and into their kitchen, where she had already set out the ingredients for the biscuits.  
  
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"I have never really done any magical cooking, usually when Mrs. Weasley is cooking things are flying all over the place." Harry said smiling.  
  
"Oh, well I was thinking we could make them the old fashioned way." Eowyn said looking up at Harry as she measured out the flour.  
  
"Oh, are you muggle born?" Harry asked.  
  
"No..." Eowyn said tentatively.  
  
"Well then, how do you know how to cook without magic?" Harry asked again.  
  
"I have learned." Was all she said.  
  
"Oh, well what shall I do?" Harry asked, seeing that he was making her uncomfortable.   
  
"Well, you can start by pouring in the flour over there, and then adding some salt and baking powder."  
  
"All right."   
  
So Harry spent the rest of the afternoon, helping Eowyn make Christmas biscuits in all different shapes and sizes. Some were snowmen; others were trees, and candy canes. Harry had forgotten about what had happened over the past few days, and felt almost as if he was part of a family for once.  
  
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The magical clock on the wall said that Severus and Sylvia were on their way home, and so Eowyn cleaned up the mess in the kitchen without magic, which Harry did not understand why.  
  
"Eowyn? I think I am going to go take a rest. I am still tired."  
  
"Of course, here I have gone and kept you working, when you are still recovering." Eowyn said as she patted Harry on the back.  
  
"Thank you, for this." Harry said gesturing at the biscuits.  
  
"Why of course Harry. I know that you aren't really treated like you should be at your Aunt and Uncle's, and I feel bad that you have to spend Christmas with us, and not your friends."  
  
"Oh, well it has been... interesting." Harry decided.  
  
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Harry went and fell sleep right away in his bed. Eowyn went and wrapped a few more presents before Severus and Sylvia returned home. Eowyn loved Christmas. It was her favorite time of the year. She remembered how her mother would make biscuits, and played Christmas carols on the harp. She missed her mother sometimes. She always thought of her during this time of the year. In fact it was around this time that one of Voldermort's Death Eaters had killed Eowyn's mother. Eowyn's father had died when she was only a baby, and never knew him.  
  
"Eowyn, we're home!" Severus called from the entryway.  
  
"Coming! Eowyn pushed the unwrapped gifts under the bed, and went to greet her family.  
  
"There you are, you weren't doing anything suspicious were you?" Severus asked with raised eyebrows.  
  
"Of course not! So, did you have fun Sylvia?" She said happily.  
  
"Yes, so much! Daddy took me riding on his broom. We went so fast. I want to play Quidditch when I grow up!" Sylvia exclaimed.  
  
"Well, daddy will have to show you some of his tricks when you get a bit older." Eowyn said.  
  
"Sylvia why don't you go wash up, and you can have a biscuit." Eowyn said patting her daughter on the bottom, as her daughter walked back to the toilet.  
  
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"So what did you buy?" Eowyn said teasing.  
  
"None of your business. Not until tomorrow."  
  
"Did you get anything for Harry?" Eowyn asked.  
  
"Yes, I picked him up something, well more than one thing really."  
  
"Ooh, let me see!"  
  
"I don't know, I think you will have to pay me first."  
  
"Will a kiss do?"  
  
"You know it." Severus smiled.  
  
"So, can I see?"  
  
"You never give up!"  
  
"Persistence is one of my Gryffindor qualities!"  
  
"Oh, which reminds me. Please don't let Harry know that you are a Gryffindor. I would never live it down."  
  
"Are you ashamed of me?"  
  
"No of course not, but I think the shock might kill the boy."   
  
"Oh all right! By the way when are you going to tell him?" Eowyn asked.  
  
"Later, I will do it later."  
  
"No, Severus the sooner you get it off your chest the better you and Harry will be."  
  
"Fine, I will do it tonight. Will that make you happy?" Severus said defeated.  
  
"Yes, almost as happy as spending Christmas with you. Do you remember the song that they played at our wedding?"   
  
"Let's see... it was 'If' by the Who, wasn't it?"   
  
"Very good, you remembered, and it was a Muggle song too. I am so proud of you. Now show me the gifts!"  
  
"All right already." Severus reached into a bag, and pulled out several new sweaters that he had bought Harry, along with some new jeans, and dress pants.   
  
"Oh these are lovely! And you picked them out all by yourself? I'm impressed."  
  
"I do have taste you know."  
  
"Of course you do darling."  
  
"I hope he likes them. I got red considering he is a Gryffindor, I figured he wouldn't like green or sliver."  
  
"Good thinking. Oh he is just going to love them!" Eowyn exclaimed and took the bags back to their room, where the already unfinished gifts lay under their bed.  
  
Severus however kept two bags with him, and took him downstairs to his study. As he looked around his study, his eyes stopped at one of his glass cases, and looked down at the wand that was incased there.  
  
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	7. Family History

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
I hope this chapter lives up to all I wanted it to be. I have the worst fears about my pivotal point in my stories. I have it envisioned in my mind to play out a certain way, and try to portray it the best I can through my writing.  
  
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Chapter 7  
  
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"Severus! Dinner!" Eowyn yelled from upstairs."  
  
"Coming darling." Severus said as he moved his hand from hovering over the wand that was kept in the glass case.  
  
Harry was still sleeping when the Snape's sat down for dinner, and Eowyn decided it would be best not to wake him, and take him food later, if he was hungry. With it being Christmas Eve, Eowyn had fixed a large ham with sprouts and roast potatoes. Severus and Sylvia both commented on how delicious it tasted.  
  
During the middle of their dinner, a large white owl pecked on their window. Severus recognized it to be Harry's owl, Hedwig.  
  
"Well, come in!" Severus said after opening the window.  
  
"He is sleeping. You may put his letters down and rest on the perch over by the wall for a while." Severus told the bird. She hooted in agreement.  
  
After dinner, Severus cleaned up the kitchen with a wave of his wand, and decided to go check on Harry.  
  
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He knocked on the door and waited for an answer.  
  
"Come in." Harry said groggily.  
  
"Pardon me for waking you, Mr. Potter, but your owl is here with some letters from your friends, and my wife wondered if you cared for anything to eat." Severus said as politely as he could manage.  
  
"Oh, I am not too hungry right now, maybe later. What time is it, sir?"  
  
"It is 7:30pm. You have been sleeping for quite a while."  
  
"Oh have I? I am sorry, sir."  
  
"It is all right Potter, you are still recovering." Severus was about to leave, when he heard his wife's voice in his head. 'Tell him tonight.'  
  
"Harry, are you up for a talk?" Severus asked using his first name.  
  
"Yes, of course. I wanted to thank you again for letting me stay here. I don't know what I was thinking the other night, just it seemed like there was no way out. But you probably don't understand."  
  
"I understand more than you know. I once had thoughts, as you did the other night. I was once your age, and under an enormous amount of pressure, as you are. I know what it is like."  
  
"The Headmaster said, that I could relate to you most of all, but I find that kind of odd, I mean what do we have in common."  
  
"More than you know."  
  
"That is what the Headmaster said. What does that mean, will you tell me?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes... but first I must ask that you not divulge any of this information to anyone. As you are well aware of, I am a private man, and I need to keep it that way, at least until after the war."  
  
"You have my word. I know it isn't much, but I swear to you that it is good."  
  
"Yes... of course."  
  
"Does it have anything to do with Eowyn, I mean Madame Snape, not liking to use magic?" Harry asked forwardly.  
  
"How did you know that?" Severus asked.  
  
"She and I made biscuits this afternoon, and well she didn't use any magic, whatsoever."  
  
"That is because, Harry, she cannot." Severus let out a deep sigh.  
  
"But she went to Hogwarts, she cannot be a Muggle."  
  
"No, she once was a very talented witch, just like your mother. But then the Dark Lord placed upon her a dark curse, that cannot be broken unless he is killed, but I am starting too late in the story. I must start from the beginning." Severus closed his eyes for a moment and then begun.  
  
"I once had a brother. His name was Septimus. He was older than me, and my father's pride and joy. My brother did my father's bidding, no matter how difficult or challenging it was. My brother was a Gryffindor, as was my father. I suppose the reason I got put in Slytherin, was because of the great thirst to prove myself to my father. I wanted nothing more than the praise of my father.  
  
My father was a noble wizard. He worked at the ministry, in the Department of Mysteries to be more precise, and my brother was prepared to follow him into that line of work as well. Well, at least until Tom Riddle began gaining supporters. My father being the Pureblood wizard that he was, thought that Riddle's propaganda was pure gold, and he would have done anything to become one of his right hand supporters. I know that you are probably under the impression that there were no Gryffindor Death Eaters, but I assure you they came from all houses." Severus said, seeing the look on Harry's face.  
  
"My brother, Septimus, was asked by my father to join with him. Of course, he did not ask me, because I was nothing but an waste of space in my father's eyes. He felt that I did not have the courage that it would take to do what he was asking." Severus paused for a moment.  
  
"What did your mother think of all this?" Harry asked.  
  
"My mother, my mother was under the control of my father. She had no thoughts of her own, not since I had been born. I never really knew my mother, besides the body in which she inhabited."  
  
"That is awful." Harry felt sick; he wanted his Professor to stop.  
  
"So my brother joined, the stupid fool. Unlike my father, my brother and I got along well, and he was the one that always told me not to listen to my father. He said that it was his duty to do our father's bidding, not mine.  
  
Time went on and my father realized that the Ministry was starting to arrest witches and wizards who were associated with the Dark Lord, so my father wanted out, here I thought Courage was supposed to be a trait of a Gryffindor. He told my brother that it was his duty to insure that he was allowed to leave.   
  
My brother went to the Dark Lord and asked if my father could be released from his service. He didn't even wait for my brother to finish, before he killed him."  
  
"Stop! Please stop." Harry cried. He couldn't stand the tone in which Severus carried on. It was flat, emotionless.  
  
"Forgive me, I must finish, or else you will never know. I am sorry that I speak this way, but I have to detach myself from what happened, or I would never sleep at night."  
  
"Go on then, if you must." Harry gulped.  
  
"So with my brother dead, my father became more frightened. He asked me for help. For the first time in my life, my father came to me. I was more than willing to help him. But what he asked of me was madness.   
  
He wanted me to join, in place of him. He said that I had more to offer the Dark Lord than he. I did not want to do this, but I did, to please him. I took the Polyjuice Potion to please my father. Looking back, I am sure the Dark Lord was not fooled, but somehow he had let it go."  
  
"So that is how you became a... a Death Eater?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, that is how I got this branded onto my skin." Severus said as he pulled up his sleeve and stared at it in shame.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"So how does your wife fit into all of this?" Harry questioned after they had both sat in silence.  
  
"My wife Eowyn, was and Auror as was her brother Eomer. The same night that I joined the Dark Lord, Aurors were tipped, and came. I was badly injured, and the Dark Lord cursed Eowyn, taking away all of her magical powers. The Dark Lord had done it before, taken away people's magic. Mr. Longbottom is a perfect example. Most of his magical ability was taken away the night that his house was attacked when he was a baby.  
  
As for how we met, it was at St. Mungo's, and it was there, where I told my story to the Headmaster. You know the rest."  
  
Harry did not know what to say. It was perhaps the first time anyone had told him what life had been like before and during Voldermort. Harry was always so eager to find out what had happened to Snape, but now being here, in his house, he wasn't so sure anymore. Harry could tell that it hurt him just to speak of it.   
  
Harry wanted nothing more than to help Eowyn. He knew now what they were speaking of this morning. Harry was the only one who had the power to kill Voldermort. Harry now understood that the lives of witches and wizards that Voldermort had cursed long ago, lay in his hands. Harry didn't want that responsibility. He was just a boy, trying to grow up.  
  
"Sir, what if I fail." Harry asked after a while.  
  
"You will not fail Harry. When the time is right, you will succeed." Severus said trying to give the boy hope.  
  
"Why does it all have to rest on me? I do not want this burden."  
  
"Harry, it does not all rest on you. There are wizards and witches out there helping you, giving you the tools you need to succeed. Which is why I told you my story, it is time for me to give you my tool that I can offer you." Severus said.  
  
"Oh. You mean Occulmency lessons?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, something else."  
  
"What, sir?" Harry was unsure, his Potions professor having a tool that would help him overthrow the Dark Lord? Whatever it was, he was about to find out.  
  
*********************************************************************** 


	8. Pieces in Motion

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
So I start university again today, so we will see how long before my next update. Being an accounting major really sucks sometimes. I wanted to get this chapter up, since I left you with a big cliffhanger last time. I really do appreciate all of your reviews, they mean a lot to me. Sorry the chapter is so much shorter than the rest. I promise I will try to update this weekend.  
  
********************************************************************  
  
Chapter 8  
  
********************************************************************  
  
Severus reached into his trouser pocket, and pulled out something. Harry pushed himself up, in order to get a better view of it.  
  
Harry saw that it was a large stone, much like the Philosopher's stone that he held his first year. But this one seemed different. It was slivery in color, but yet transparent enough to see through it. When Harry took a closer look, he saw that incased in the stone was a small vile of red liquid.  
  
"Sir?" Harry questioned.  
  
"This, Harry is the Stone of Zasral. Have you ever heard of it?"  
  
"No sir."  
  
"This stone was found by my father, and was suppose to be given to the Department of Mysteries, but never was. I found it in my vault one day and took it to the Headmaster, for him to look at. He told me that I was to keep it, and give it to the one who rivaled the Dark Lord. So, I have now for 16 years. It is time for you to have it."  
  
"What does it do sir?"  
  
"Can you see the red liquid inside the stone?" Severus asked.  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Good." Severus paused.  
  
"Not everyone can see that, only those who have had someone they loved killed by the heir of Salazar Slytherin, Tom Riddle to be more exact, can see it.  
That red liquid is the blood of Salazar Slytherin, taken by Godric Gryffindor when they were dueling, at least that is what my research has lead me to believe.   
  
What many do not know is that after Salazar left Hogwarts, Godric felt remorse for turning against his best friend, and so he went looking for him. It took Godric several years to track him down. By the time that Godric had found him, he was in an awful state.   
  
Salazar had gotten himself into a large gambling debt, and was attacked by the Goblins that he owed money to. Godric tried to save him, but he died right there in his arms. Salazar, being a successful Potions Master thought that the only way to repay his life debt to Godric, handed him this stone, and told Godric as he lay dying that one day Godric's heir would need this stone, for it was predicted that the two heirs would meet again."  
  
"Wait a minute, I am not the heir of Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin." Harry said uneasy.  
  
"But yet, you are in Gryffindor. This may as come as a surprise but even previous hiers of one house, has been placed in another."  
  
"But how can this be."  
  
"Do you think that all sons and daughters are the same as their parents Harry?"  
  
"Well I thought so, until you said that."  
  
"It is not always the case. A child develops their own personality, a mix between mother and father."  
  
"So, just a minute, if I am the heir of Gryffindor, then my father was too?"  
  
"Not exactly. He is a descendent of Godric Gryffindor, but it took both your parents in order to produce the heir."  
  
"Did my parents know that I am the heir?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, and the staff wasn't sure until you pulled that sword out of the hat in your second year. The puzzle is starting to come together. Pieces are in motion that now cannot be undone. When you pulled out that sword. You confirmed to Riddle, to the Headmaster, and to the founders that you are the heir."  
  
Harry took a few minutes to process all of this. For him it was all a bit overwhelming.  
  
********************************************************************  
  
"So, wait, you mean, that is Slytherin's blood in the stone?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, that is correct."  
  
"How exactly will that help me?"  
  
"I do not have all the answers, the Headmaster said that it was for you to figure out. When the time comes, you will know what to do." Severus said handing him the stone. Harry was afraid to take it, fearing that it would cause his scar to hurt, but surprisingly it did not.  
  
When Harry took the stone, he immediately heard a voice in his head.   
  
'You are the one, who must put an end to the line. With this blood, you will not fail. You must reinstate the line of Slytherin, and as the Heir of Gryffindor, the choice is yours.' Harry shook his head.  
  
Severus got up off the bed and walked out of the room.   
  
He came back within a few minutes with a plate of food for Harry to eat.  
  
"Thank you sir, for everything, really." Harry said again.  
  
"I do believe in you Harry, we all do." With that Severus walked out of the room. 


	9. Snap, not Snape

Coming Clean  
  
By  
  
Snivellus  
  
A/N: I know, I know I took a long time to update, but I hope you like the chapter. It is Christmas!  
  
******************************************************************  
  
Chapter 9  
  
******************************************************************  
  
It was Christmas morning, and Harry woke to the sounds of Sylvia running down the hall.  
  
"Wake up, wake up, Santa came!" Sylvia yelled throughout the house.  
  
"I think your daughter, has too much energy." Severus said turning over in the bed to face Eowyn.  
  
"No, I think YOUR daughter has found her presents." She said tossing the sheets off her and onto Severus.  
  
"So I guess this means we have to get up?" Severus moaned.  
  
"Yes I think so." Eowyn said. Sylvia came bounding into her parents room.  
  
"Daddy, mummy, get up! Let's open presents!" She said all excited.  
  
"All right, we will be there in a minute." Severus said as he put on his robe.  
  
"Yay!" Sylvia said running into Harry's room next.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
"Harry! Get up, we have presents!" Sylvia squealed.  
  
"You have presents?" He asked in mock surprise.  
  
"Ya, and so do you!" Harry was really surprised this time. Why would Harry have presents, this wasn't his home?  
  
"Well, we better go see what Santa brought you." Harry said taking Sylvia's hand and walking slowly to the living room, where a beautiful large Christmas tree stood. Harry thought it looked just as good as the tree at Hogwarts. It was defiently better than Christmas at the Dursley's.   
  
Harry took a seat on the hearth of the fireplace, while Sylvia ran around, expelling a lot more energy than Harry could imagine. Finally after five excruciating minutes of waiting, Severus and Eowyn walked into the room.  
  
"Happy Christmas, Harry. I am sorry my daughter chooses 7 o'clock in the morning to open her presents." Eowyn said smiling.  
  
"It's all right, At the Dursley's, they usually forget to wake me up." Harry said trying to act like it was all in good fun.  
  
"Happy Christmas, Mr. Potter." Severus said as he fixed himself a cup of coffee.  
  
"Happy Christmas, Sir." Harry said looking quickly away from his professor. It was odd to be spending Christmas with his strict Potion's Master. He had learned far too much about his Professor, and found it rather awkward to be sharing this family activity with him.  
  
"Can I open my presents yet?" Sylvia asked impatiently.  
  
"Yes, you may." Eowyn said running her hand over her daughters long black hair. Sylvia rushed towards her presents, but was stopped by her father.  
  
"One at a time, Sylvia. You know better than that." Severus said sternly.  
  
"Yes, father." Sylvia replied.  
  
"Good girl, now why don't you give everyone a present to open?" Severus said as he lifted his daughter's chin with his index finger.  
  
Sylvia gave a present to her mother, then to her father, then to Harry.  
  
"Here Harry, this one is for you." Sylvia said, growing impatient.  
  
"What? I have a present?" Harry said genuinely surprised.  
  
"You have more than one Harry." Sylvia said, as she started to count them out loud.  
  
"Who are these from?" Harry asked, looking at Eowyn.  
  
"Santa, doh Harry!" Sylvia said. Eowyn nodded at Harry, and smiled.  
  
"Sylvia, why don't we let Mr. Potter open his first. He is the guest." Severus said seeing the anticipation becoming too much for the little girl.   
  
Severus gestured for him to start. Harry ripped the nice wrapping paper, and opened the box to discover that it was a new sweater. It was a dark maroon color. It looked like a very nice sweater, and Harry just looked at it amazed.  
  
"It is lovely. Wow. I don't think I have owned this nice of a sweater since Mrs. Weasley's." Harry said appreciatively.  
  
"All right Sylvia, you may open your present now." Severus said.  
  
She tore quickly at the paper, and before Harry could blink she had the toy out of the packaging.  
  
"Wow, wow! It is a Warty Warlock's Junior Wardrobe!" Sylvia exclaimed.  
Harry wasn't really sure what a Warty Warlock's Junior Wardrobe was, but whatever it was Sylvia seemed to be enjoying it.  
Sylvia placed the little box on the ground, and pressed a button, and the once small box became a full dress up wardrobe.  
  
"Severus, open yours next." Eowyn said.  
  
Severus carefully unwrapped each corner of the small box, making sure he removed the paper without one rip.  
  
"Try and beat that Eowyn." Severus said triumphantly, smiling at Eowyn.  
  
"Oh Severus, that is going to be impossible to beat. You didn't rip the paper at all!" Eowyn said hitting him on the leg.  
  
"Well, you will just have to up your game this year." Severus continued to open his present, and discovered that Eowyn had gotten him a magical timer. He had needed a new one. Longbottom melted his old one when one of his potions got out of control.  
  
"Thank you dear. I needed a new one after what Longbottom did to mine." Severus said kissing her on the cheek.  
  
Harry watched as Snape kissed his wife. He felt like this is how Christmas should be. Harry loved Christmas's at Hogwarts, but this is what Christmas should have been like with his own family, if they were still alive. Christmas's at the Dursley's always consisted of Dudley tearing through his presents in five minutes, then after five more minutes he was screaming why he hadn't gotten some things that were on his list. Harry's Aunt would then promise Dudley that he would get them for his birthday. Christmas was everything but happy for Harry.   
  
******************************************************************  
  
About thirty minutes later, and several boxes later, Harry was overwhelmed by all the nice, new clothes that he had received from the man, whom he thought hated him. Sylvia was busy playing with all her new toys on the floor, happily humming as she moved along the floor.  
  
"Harry, will you play Snap with me?" Sylvia asked.  
  
"Sure, Sylvia. I haven't ever played "Junior Wicked Witches" version. You will have to tell me the rules.  
  
"Well instead of numbers, the picture of a famous witch has to match. Okay?" She said dealing out the cards.  
  
"Oh ok." Harry thought that he should be slow at calling out Snap's because he wanted to give Sylvia a chance, but he quickly discovered that Sylvia was, in reality, better than him. He was getting his arse kicked by a six year old.  
  
******************************************************************  
In the kitchen, Severus was talking to Eowyn.  
"I think he liked his clothes, he couldn't stop saying how much he liked them." Eowyn said holding Severus' hand.  
  
"Yes, I think I may have glorified his life, a bit before now." Severus admitted.  
  
"The poor boy, never having family to celebrate Christmas with." Eowyn said.  
  
"Yes, I can remember how unhappy Christmas was when I was growing up." Severus said looking at Eowyn.  
  
"But, you are so blessed now, if only the Dark Lord was gone, then perhaps you would be truly happy in every aspect of your life." Eowyn said looking at her husband's downcast eyes.  
  
"Yes, he is the last remaining evil in my life." Severus said rubbing his forearm unconsciously.  
  
"Good always conquers evil." Eowyn said trying to assure him.  
  
"Even when there are shades of gray?" Severus said, implying that his role as a spy was not as clear as black and white.  
  
"Yes, even when there are shades of gray, surprisingly they all become clearly defined, one overruling thought will prevail." Eowyn said getting up and stretching.  
  
"I suppose I should go save Harry from Sylvia's 50 games of Snap. He will hate the game once Sylvia is done with him." Eowyn said laughing.  
  
"Yes, I have one more thing for him, but it is for him alone. I will be down in my study if you need me." Severus said wrapping his hand around his coffee mug.  
  
"All right, I think Sylvia and I will clean up this mess." Eowyn said patting Severus on the back.  
  
Severus walked over the pair of children. As Harry laid down a pair, Severus called out.  
  
"Snape!" Looking at Sylvia.  
  
"Silly daddy, it is Snap, not Snape!"  
  
"Oh, that's right, well perhaps the should rename the game, you obviously are the master of the game. Why don't you give Mr. Potter a break, and help mummy clean up, okay?" Severus said magically cleaning up the game.  
  
"All right daddy. Happy Christmas. I love you daddy." The little girl said getting to her feet and wrapping her body around Severus' legs.  
  
"I love you too." He said as he patted his daughter on the back.  
  
"Mr. Potter, come with me." He said in his usual deep voice.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
TBC 


	10. Memories

A/N: OMG, I actually updated! I was hyped up after exercising last night and could not go to sleep, so I finished this chapter. It went a different direction than what I first had planned, but I like this better. I have not updated this story in months, and I mean months. Someone has been asking me so kindly to update it, so here it is. I will try to keep updating. Hope you like it, and I would love reviews.  
  
**Chapter 10**  
  
Harry followed his Professor down to their basement. Unsure of where Snape was leading him, he held his wand in his pocket.  
  
"Sir? I wanted to thank you again, for all those lovely clothes. I know I am a burden to your family, and I did not expect you to get me anything. I feel horrid that I could not give you anything." Harry said sincerely.  
  
"Please, Mr. Potter do not consider it a gift, think of it more as necessaries. I do not expect anything in return, except for your respect, which I seem to be losing a un-winnable battle with, in the classroom." Severus said. Harry did not know what to say, of course he did not have Snape's trust before this, look at the way he had to treat him in front of all his friends, and enemies.  
  
"I will of course, try my best, sir." Harry said.  
  
"Yes, I know you will." Severus said, in a stern fatherly voice.  
  
"Where are you taking me sir?" Harry asked as they got down to a door with a large serpent on it. Severus looked at it, and then spoke:  
  
"Risolva la vostra propria salvezza. Non dipenda da altri." With those words, the door opened, to reveal a moderately sized study, covered in dark cherry paneling and dark green carpet.  
  
"What is this place?" Harry asked again.  
  
"This is my study, my private place where I come to sort out my thoughts from time to time." Severus said as he indicated for Harry to enter.  
  
"What does your password mean?" Harry asked.  
  
"It is a quote, 'Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.'"  
  
"Oh." Harry said as he sat down on one of the black leather chairs in the room.  
  
The study was very neat and tidy. Just what Harry would expect from his strict potions professor.  
  
"So Mr. Potter, were you surprised when you found out that I was married?" Severus asked as he looked through a few of his desk drawers.  
  
"Um, well yes to be perfectly honest. I mean you don't really seem the type to marry." Harry confessed, hoping that his professor would not be angry.  
  
"You know your mother said the same thing, when I told her I was getting married." Severus said sitting behind the lavish looking desk, while Harry stood idly.  
  
"I thought you hated my mother?" Harry questioned.  
  
"What you saw when you so horribly entered my thoughts was a glimpse of me when I was only 15 years old. Shall I remind you that over the past year, you perhaps have said some things you have regretted, perhaps in the Headmasters office?" Severus questioned pressing his fingertips together.  
  
"So you were friends with my mother?" Harry asked.  
  
"Before I answer that I need to explain something to you. Have you ever talked to your Aunt about your mother?" Severus asked.  
  
"No, I had asked about her, but she would always get this mean look on her face, and told me that she died in a car crash. It wasn't until Hagrid came and told me about Hogwarts, that I knew who my parents were." Harry explained.  
  
"Did you ever find it odd, that she would not want to talk about her?" Severus asked again.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, she did say that her parents were so proud of my mum for being a witch..." Harry trailed off.  
  
"That is not why she will not talk about it." Severus said simply.  
  
"Do you know my aunt, sir?" Harry asked.  
  
"If you would stop asking so many questions I will tell you." Severus chided.  
  
"Harry, do you remember what I told you about my brother Septimus?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Your aunt was in love with my brother." Severus said simply.  
  
It took a moment for this to sink in for Harry. Aunt Petunia, in love with someone other than Vernon Dursley, and to top it off, in love with a wizard. This was all very overwhelming to Harry.  
  
"I assure you that this is no joke. While my brother was in the services of the Dark Lord, he met your mother's sister. You see, at your godfather's wedding, practically the whole wizarding world was invited, and so my brother and I went. Lily had brought along Petunia, and that is when they met. They spent the whole night practically wrapped in each others arms. Frankly, it made me rather sick." Severus commented.  
  
"Whoa, back up, Sirius got married?" Harry asked shocked.  
  
"Yes, to a woman named Morgana Jenkins. She died two years later, I thought her death is what caused him to murder all those people that night, but apparently, as the Headmaster has tried to convince me of, that it was not him."  
  
"She died?"  
  
"Yes, shall I say it in latin, or do you comprehend what I am telling you?"  
  
"Fine, I am sorry." Harry said, still somewhat smitten.  
  
"Back to your aunt. She and my brother were in love, but my brother ,being associated with Death Eaters, he had to keep it undercover. My father would have personally killed him, if he had found out that he was courting a muggle." Severus finished.  
  
"So what happened?"  
  
"I told you that my father had asked to get out of the service of the Dark Lord, correct?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And do you recall when Albus mentioned in the Prophecy that your parents had thwarted the Dark Lord thrice before their death?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Well, Septimus and I also had the privilege of attending your parents wedding, and my much to our misfortune, the Dark Lord also wished to crash the event."  
  
"When did my parents get married?" Harry asked.  
  
"You mean you do not even know that?" Severus questioned.  
  
"No, sir."  
  
"October 31st 1977."  
  
"But that was the day..." He trailed off again.  
  
"I know, may I continue?" Severus asked somewhat annoyed.  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"So your parents along with their friends, stood against the Dark Lord and defeated him, but not without losses on both sides. The Dark Lord fled, taking your aunt and my brother with him,"  
  
"What happened, I mean you said that your brother died when your father wished to get out of Voldermort's service." Harry asked more interested.  
  
"I have told you before, never say his name!" Severus hissed.  
  
"Sorry, sir. So, what happened?"  
  
"It was that night that my father wanted out, basically, your aunt watched my brother die, and then was taken to safety by your godfather." Severus explained, leaning back in his chair, somewhat tired.  
  
"So she watched the man she loved die?"  
  
"Not only that, but she saw how evil and powerful magic can be. She has forgotten the beauty and the greatness that magic posses. Therefore, she no longer wishes to acknowledge it exists. She met your uncle a year later, then they married and had your cousin, Dudley." Severus finished.  
  
"That is so sad, I wish she had told me." Harry said, looking down at his feet.  
  
"She unfortunately will never tell you. She chose to have it erased from her memory, but she still has dreams of it. And I still remember it." Severus said turning his chair so that he was no longer facing the boy.  
  
"Why would anyone choose to have their memories erased?" Harry asked.  
  
"Sometimes, people feel that their memories are holding them back, and Albus gave her the option of erasing my brother's death from her mind, and reprogramming it to think that he just left and found someone else. Albus did not erase the good times she had with him, only those so unbearable. " Severus tried his best to explain.  
  
"Sir, I don't think I would ever want my memories erased, no matter how bad some of them are." Harry concluded.  
  
"I am glad, perhaps that someday you will be able to become a skilled Legitimist. But for now, you remain utterly incompetent."  
  
Severus got up out of his chair, and walked over to a glass cabinet. Harry noticed that he had items that were similar to the Headmaster's. Severus magically unlocked the cabinet, and removed the wand that was sitting on one of the shelves.  
  
"This, Harry is my brother's wand." Severus said as he carefully handed it to Harry. 


	11. What is in a Name?

**A/N: I am glad I still have some people who want to read this story. I am sorry if Snape is a little OOC, but I like him like this, I never imagined him to be a horrible person, just someone who wants the rules to be followed. Oh and for the record, I apologize if there is already a canon reason for why Harry is named Harry. I like my version better anyway. Besides what else are fics for but to make up things. :)  
  
Chapter 11**  
  
"Wow, I have never seen a wand like this." Harry said, as he looked down at all the ancient markings that covered the shaft of the wand.  
  
"It is not an ordinary wand. It is Godric Gryffindor's wand. As I told you my father and brother were both Gryffindors. You may be thinking that since I am in possession of this wand, that this somehow means we are related, however we are not. Godric Gryffindor is not related to my family, but the wand did find my brother, just as his sword found you. The Headmaster told me that you were able to pull Godric's wand out of the Sorting Hat in your Second year. Is that correct?" Severus asked.  
  
"Yes, sir. The Hat came to me, and I just saw it lying there in the Hat. I didn't have my wand because Tom took it, so I used it to slay the Basilisk." Harry said still staring at the extraordinary wand.  
  
"There is much to be said about a wizard's wand. As you know, your wand is the same as the Dark Lord's, that is how you were able to escape in your Fourth year."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"It seems to me that all you have been doing up till now is escaping, that is until this past year. I am aware that you attempted an unforgivable. Am I correct?" Severus said looking at the boy.  
  
"Yes, sir, I did." Harry said looking down again.  
  
"What happened when you tried to perform the spell?" Severus asked.  
  
"Nothing, that horrid woman just laughed at me." Harry thought bitterly. She had killed his godfather. She was evil, and Harry wanted so much for her to suffer.  
  
""Nothing happened was suppose to happen because you are not meant to perform unforgivibles, you have something stronger inside of you. Do you know what that is?" Severus asked again.  
  
"Love." Harry nearly whispered.  
  
"That is correct. I am sure you have heard it before from the Headmaster. Your mother and father loved you so much! Why would you have wanted to throw that all away?"  
  
"Is it because you don't feel loved anymore?" Severus asked sincerely.  
  
"I guess so, I mean I know my friends care about me, and Remus and the Headmaster all care for me, but the other night, I did not love myself." Harry admitted.  
  
"Harry, I know that I am strict, and harsh, and perhaps mean, as your professor, but there is something I think you should know." Severus paused for a moment. He knew that once he started talking the dam would burst, and he would never be seen as a horrible Potions Professor again.  
  
"I think, that you posses all the good qualities of both your parents. You asked me earlier if I was a friend of your mother, well the truth is that is how I met Eowyn. Eowyn knew your mother better than anyone else. If you ever want to know about your mother, then you should ask her." Severus said, as he looked up and saw his wife at the door of the study.  
  
"How is it going down here, I am not going to stay, but I was going to tell you that your daughter wishes to be tucked in." Eowyn said looking at Harry.  
  
"Mr. Potter, stay here, we are not finished. I will be right back. Eowyn, why don't you stay and talk to Mr. Potter?" Severus suggested as he got up and walked to the doorway.  
  
"Sir? Tell Sylvia good night for me." Harry said.  
  
"I will." He replied and went up the stairs, while Eowyn walked over and sat in the other empty leather chair next to Harry.  
  
"So Harry, is there anything you would like to know." Eowyn offered.  
  
"I don't know." Harry thought for a few moments, and then decided that he did in fact have a question.  
  
"Why did my mother name me Harry?" He asked.  
  
"Ah, well you see, it all goes back to when we were little. I grew up next door to your mother, that is how we first met. I could tell that she was a witch the moment I saw her. She just had this magical glow around her, similar to my parents.  
  
Anyway, we both played with this boy named Harry at the park in our neighborhood. When we were eight years old, Harry got sick. Lily said that he had a disease called Leukemia. She told me that he had to go to the hospital, and he would be in there for a long time.  
  
About two months later Harry came back to the park and we noticed that he had lost all his hair. He didn't look like the young healthy little boy we once knew, but he told us he was in Remission, apparently that is when the disease stops attacking your body, that is how Lily explained it to me.  
  
He stayed well for about six months and we all went to school together but then he had to go back to the hospital around Christmas time. Lily and I would visit him once a week, and he would have all these needles, and medicines all around. Being a pureblood, I was unsure what to think of all this, and Lily found herself going to visit him alone. I did not like seeing this little boy, no older than myself with so much heart and kindness, being taken away.  
  
Lily however continued to stay with him. She would go and color, and play games with him. She would come back and tell me how he was doing, and we would make cards and toys for him, so that your mother would take them to him."  
  
"He sounded like a good person." Harry said thoughtfully.  
  
"Harry wasn't getting any better and we decided that we should try and do something extra special to make him feel better, so Lily asked him what he would really like to do before he died."  
  
"What was that?" Harry asked.  
  
"He wanted to go to a beach. He had never been, and he said that if he could that is where he would go."  
  
"Did he make it?"  
  
"Well we went back that next week, and we had brought pictures of the beach to show him, because being eight years old we were not quite sure how to go about getting Harry to a beach with all his needles and medicine. Harry's mother had told us when we had come to visit him, that he was now too sick for visitors. Lily insisted that she see him, and she went into the room and shut the door." Eowyn stopped for a moment.  
  
"What happened?" Harry asked.  
  
"The room filled with this pink light, I had never seen anything like it before, but I knew it must have been magic. She had wanted nothing so much as to see him get better. I believe that some things are stronger than anything a doctor or mediwitch could ever do."  
  
"What happened to Harry? Did he get better?" Harry asked, never imagining that he was actually named after a real person, let alone a boy who had suffered so much at such a young age.  
  
"He got a bit better, and they let him take his trip to the beach. He died there, but neither of us was sad, because that is what he wanted. Lily had given part of herself to make our friend Harry happy, even if for one day. " Eowyn said, silent tears forming in the corners of her eyes.  
  
"So I was named after someone?"  
  
"Yes, a very sweet boy, whom I will never forget, and I think you embody everything my friend Harry did."  
  
"Thank you, I hope that I can live up to the name." Harry said sheepishly.  
  
"Harry, look at me. You are extraordinary. You have lived through more than anyone could ever imagine. Your mother would be so proud."  
  
Upstairs, Severus was attempting to get his daughter to go to sleep.  
  
"Sylvia, stop jumping on your bed, you know what daddy thinks about that." He scolded.  
  
"Daddy, I am too happy to sleep!" Sylvia exclaimed.  
  
"Well, you know, that Santa is still watching to make sure little girls and boys obey their parents so that he won't have to come and take back all the wonderful gifts that he left you." Severus said, grabbing his daughter in mid-bounce and pulling her onto his lap.  
  
"Daddy, look, my toof is woose!" Sylvia said as she wiggled her tooth with her finger.  
  
"Don't talk with your fingers in your mouth." Severus said, losing an unwinable battle with his six year old.  
  
"Daddy, I want you to stay home all the time, and have Harry stay with us."  
  
"You know daddy has to go back to work, we all ready talked about this, and Mr. Potter has to go back to school."  
  
"I want to go back to school with you!" Sylvia whined.  
  
"Your not old enough yet, but I promise when you are, you can come to my school, and see what it is like. Right now it is time for bed." Severus said as he held his daughter in one arm over the shoulder, and pulled down her sheets with the other arm, then gently tossed her into her bed.  
  
"Daddy, I thought you said no more jumping!" Sylvia giggled, as she bounced as she hit the mattress.  
  
"Oh no, I guess we're just going to have to pay the toll." Severus played.  
  
"What is the toll daddy?"  
  
"It is the price you have to pay when you break the rules."  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"A kiss." He said as he closed his eyes and waited for his kiss.  
  
"Okay." Sylvia sat up and gave her father a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"It is time for bed now." Severus said more seriously.  
  
"No, five more minutes?" She begged.  
  
"No, I think now."  
  
"Four more minutes?"  
  
"How about I lay here with you until you fall asleep, is that a deal?" Severus asked.  
  
"Okay daddy."  
  
"Okay Sylvia. Scoot over, so your very tall father can fit in your tiny little bed." Severus said as he attempted to lie on top of her sheets.  
  
"Daddy, you're too big!"  
  
"I am most certainly am not!" Severus said as he wrapped his arms around his daughter.  
  
"Goodnight, Sylvia." Severus said as he magically turned off the light.  
  
"Goodnight daddy." The two lay there for a few minutes while Severus got a large cramp in his left arm.  
  
"Daddy?" He heard Sylvia say.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too darling." With that, Severus closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.  
  
Harry and Eowyn had been down in the study for a good thirty minutes, when they decided to go see what happened to Severus. Harry carefully placed the wand on Severus's desk, and followed Eowyn upstairs.  
  
They found Severus asleep on Sylvia's twin size bed, with her wrapped in his arms. Harry almost wanted to laugh at this very awkward pair, but in a way, it was touching. He decided that he hoped that he could be the kind of father that Severus was to his daughter.  
  
Harry went to bed that night feeling a lot better about himself, and the Snapes. 


	12. Everything Happens for a Reason

A/N: Thanks for the reviews; I had school work this weekend, so I have been writing at night. I hope you like the story. In the dream, Severus is invisible to Harry, kind of like Charles Dickens A Christmas Story. Yeah and if you have not figured out by now, Eowyn and Eomer's names come from Lord of the Rings, my second favorite books and movies. I hope this chapter is long enough for you, I was going to include Severus's conversation, but I decided to leave that until the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Severus woke up to see that he was still holding his daughter in his arms. He twisted his body and looked at the clock. He saw that it was a little past one o'clock in the morning. He had not planned on falling asleep, but telling Harry the story of his brother and Petunia Dursley had worn him out.  
  
It was Boxing Day tomorrow, and Eowyn's brother, Eomer was coming over for lunch. Severus also had promise to visit Albus to report on Potter. Severus carefully crawled out of his daughter's bed and walked out of her room. Severus was on his way to his bed, when he felt the paternal need to check on the boy.  
  
"Only a few days in his house, and he is already starting to get to me.  
  
Severus thought to himself.  
  
Severus peered through the half open door into the boy's makeshift bedroom.  
  
"Sirius! Sirius! Come back, please come back, I need you." Harry muttered in his sleep. Harry was tossing and turning in the bed, so Severus decided that it would be best if he did something.  
  
Severus took out his wand, and pointed it towards his temple, then to Harry's whispering an incantation.  
  
Suddenly Severus found himself seeing what Harry had been muttering about. He was standing in the Department of Mysteries, kneeling in front of the Veil. Severus watched as the boy sobbed.  
  
"Get up! You pathetic boy!" Severus turned slowly. He saw Belletrix Lestrange standing with her pointy black wand aimed at Harry.  
  
"YOU! You killed him! You don't deserve to live!" Harry shouted as he drew out his wand faster than anything Severus had seen before.  
  
"Funny, I was going to say the same about you. You are the one who killed him; he came here to save you, you idiotic boy! Your just like your pathetic parents, they were meddlesome fools too." She mocked.  
  
"It's not my fault, I thought he was in trouble, I came here to save him!" Harry shouted.  
  
"Just like you tried to save the Diggory boy?"  
  
"I didn't know! I didn't know!" Harry dropped his wand. At this, Severus stepped in, and shifted the boy's thoughts to happier times. He could not stand to watch anymore, it was almost as bad as when his own father would taunt him.  
  
What Severus had just done, was considered dark magic, but he did not care, the boy had suffered enough. Severus realized that he must sound just like Lestrange to the boy. Every class, Severus tells him how idiotic he is, messing up another potion.  
  
Another image came into view, this time it was Harry's first Christmas. Lily was holding the boy in her lap, as James acted like a typical child, rushing towards the tree, grabbing the first present he saw. Lily carefully unwrapped each gift, and showed them to Harry. Baby Harry seemed more enthralled with the wrapping than the toys.  
  
"Lil, open this one." He said as he handed it to her, looking into her eyes.  
  
"James, I thought we said no presents!" Lily said upset.  
  
"It isn't from me, it is from Santa Clause." James said seriously.  
  
"James!" Lilly said as she playfully hit him in the arm.  
  
Lily opened the tiny package, and saw that it was a beautiful opal necklace.  
  
"James! It's beautiful!" She exclaimed.  
  
"Wow, Santa sure knows how to treat a girl." James acted.  
  
"Can you hold Harry while I put it on?" Lily asked.  
  
"Sure, hand the little tyke over." James took Harry, and walked up to the large Christmas tree.  
  
"Look, Harry, it is your very first Christmas. We are going to have so much fun. I am going to teach you to ride your first broom, and how to play exploding snap. I cannot wait to take you to get your first wand! I hope you grow up to be just like me!" James exclaimed.  
  
"How typical." Severus thought.  
  
"Except, I want you to be kind and loving, like your mother. I was a real prat sometimes, and your mother, well she is the one who showed me that there is more to life than just Quidditch and good looks." James said.  
  
"And, although, I shall probably choke and die, once you hear this, but I want you to know that no matter what someone looks like, or how they might seem, they might actually be...all right." James said, almost choking on the last words.  
  
Severus knew he was talking about how James had treated him in school. He never knew that James no longer hated him, although that could not make up for never actually saying it to Severus face, he supposed that was the best he was going to get.  
  
Severus needed to get out of the boy's dream and let him have his own memories, because without them, he would not be who he was today. Severus pulled the sheets back over the boy, which he had tossed off during his nightmare, and went to bed.  
  
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS  
  
In the morning, Harry found himself in the most awkward sleeping position. His head was nearly hanging off the edge, while his feet were on his pillow. He had also had the strangest dream. He dreamt that it was his first Christmas, and his parents were talking to him, and opening presents. He did not care if it was real or not; he cherished it nonetheless.  
  
There was a knock on his door.  
  
"Yes?" Harry asked.  
  
"Are you awake yet?" Sylvia said as she came in the door with her stuffed toad in tow.  
  
"Yeah, I am awake. Did you sleep well?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah, Daddy, stayed with me." She said crawling up on Harry's bed.  
  
"That was nice of him. So did you have a good Christmas?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, thank you for asking." Sylvia said in her most gown-up voice.  
  
"What are you going to do today?"  
  
"I am going to play with my new toy broom, and maybe you can help me." Sylvia said excited.  
  
"Yeah, I will help you if I have time." Harry replied.  
  
There was a ring at the door, and Sylvia nearly flew off Harry's bed to go to the door. Harry decided it would be best to get dressed. He pulled on his new jeans that he had gotten yesterday, and one of the new sweaters. He liked how they looked on him. For once, Harry felt good in his clothes. He combed his messy black hair and put on his glasses.  
  
As he shoved up the sleeves of his sweater, he looked down and saw the marks. They were still healing, and Harry hated that he had done it, why could not Snape found him two hours earlier?  
  
Then again, if Snape had found him, then he probably would not be in his house, with his family. Finally, he concluded that everything happens for a reason, and he should stop questioning everything to the Nth degree. His mother gave her life for a reason, and Sirius gave himself for him.  
  
"Harry?" Eowyn called from the other room.  
  
"Coming Eowyn." Harry answered as he walked out of the bedroom, flicking off the lights as he went.  
  
"Harry, I would like you to meet my brother Eomer." Eowyn said as the man shifted Sylvia into one arm, and extended his hand to the boy.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Potter, a pleasure to finally meet you." Eomer said.  
  
"Nice to meet you too." Harry said, ruffling his hair with his other hand.  
  
"My god, your right Eowyn, he looks just like James!" He exclaimed.  
  
"I told you." She said as she took Sylvia from her brother's arms.  
  
"So, you knew my parents too?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yes, we went to Auror training together, and I served with him as well." Eomer answered.  
  
"So, my dad, was he any good?"  
  
"Any good, kid, your dad was unbelievable, I would say almost as good as Severus."  
  
"Almost?" Harry questioned.  
  
"Yeah, your dad couldn't quite figure out how to block mind altering spells like Severus can. Man, he is the best."  
  
"Am I being talked about?" Severus drawled as he walked into the room, with is traditional school robes on.  
  
"Oh hi there Severus. Happy Christmas." Eomer said as they shook hands.  
  
"Hello, your early." Severus commented.  
  
"Well, you taught me never to be late." Eomer said with somewhat of a snicker.  
  
"Very funny, Eomer. Now if you will excuse me, I must go talk to Dumbledore, I will be back for lunch, at 12:30." Severus stated.  
  
"You're going to see Dumbledore?" Both Harry and Eomer said at the same time.  
  
"Yes, is that a problem with either of you?" Severus asked.  
  
"No, could you tell him something for me, sir?" Harry asked.  
  
"What is it?" Severus asked.  
  
"Tell him thank you, and that I am sorry for the way that I acted the other day." Harry said sincerely.  
  
"I will."  
  
"Harry, come help me fly!" Sylvia exclaimed.  
  
"All right, lets give it a go, shall we?" Harry said as he went into the other room with the little girl.  
  
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS  
  
Severus had turned to leave, when Eomer caught his shoulder.  
  
"Yes?' Severus asked.  
  
"Tell Dumbledore, that Fudge is after Lupin, and all other werewolves. Fudge has declared them a danger, and has stated in a memo that we are to proceed with caution around all potential werewolves."  
  
"What?" Severus hissed.  
  
"That is absolutely the most idiotic thing I have ever heard, what basis does Fudge even have to send something of this magnitude out?"  
  
"He is saying that they are siding with Voldermort." Eomer responded.  
  
"That is unbelievable, why is that man still in power?" Severus said.  
  
"No one is willing to overthrow him, let alone take up the position. You know as well as I do, that if He was not occupied with Harry Potter right now, that the Minister of Magic would be the first to go."  
  
"Yes, yes. All right, I will tell Dumbledore, but I am telling you right now, if he has me taking in werewolves as well as the Boy- Who-Lived, I will go mad." 


	13. Come Clean

A/N: I hope you like this chapter, Severus goes through a range of emotions, people are complex things, and emotions are part of what make us human.   
  
Chapter 13  
  
"Enter." Albus said, as he finished signing a document on his desk.  
  
"Headmaster." Severus said, as Albus looked up from the desk.  
  
"Ah, Severus, so glad you came, I have been wanting to talk to you." Albus said standing and walking toward Severus extending his hand.  
  
"Yes, I need to speak with you as well, Eomer has told me some rather interesting news."  
  
"Well, sit, please." Albus said, taking a seat back behind his desk.  
  
Severus proceeded to tell Albus exactly what Eomer had told, him and had a similar exchange of dialogue concerning Fudge's newest plan of insanity.   
  
"So, Severus what do you suggest we do?" Albus inquired.  
  
"You're asking me?"" Severus said taken aback.  
  
"Yes, I am sure you have an opinion, as you do for everything else." Albus's eyes twinkled.  
  
"Well, we certainly cannot go around taking in refugee werewolves, let alone protect them. I mean what are we going to do on the full moon, lock them in a cage? No, Albus we cannot save everyone." Severus said.  
  
"And what about our friends?"   
  
"If you are referring to Lupin, I agree we cannot leave him out to be sent to Azkaban, but I do not know how we can go about giving him aid. Besides, he has looked after himself this long, I don't see why anything would have to change, as long as he is aware of the risk." Severus concluded.  
  
Albus sat quietly for a few moments before he spoke again.  
  
"How is Harry?" Albus asked.  
  
"Potter? He is doing better, he is taken a liking to my family."   
  
"Well, I suspect it is because he has no family of his own. And have you taken a liking to him? Albus asked leaning forward in his chair, looking into Severus's eyes.  
  
Severus was not expecting this; in fact he was quite surprised.  
  
"At first, as you know I was highly opposed to the whole situation, but now, it almost seems like..." Severus paused.  
  
"It seems like, he fits, like the way Sylvia is always wanting to play with him, and how Eowyn made biscuits with him the other day, it is just peculiar."  
  
"And why, Severus do you find it peculiar?"  
  
"I never thought that the son of my enemy could understand, understand my life, my family, my feelings even. And more peculiar than that, is the need I feel to protect him, to look out for him." Severus said somewhat slowly.  
  
"It is perfectly natural to feel concern over another person, you know that, you feel that way about your daughter."  
  
"But of Harry Potter? I never once thought that he was someone that I could hold a conversation with , let alone cause the anxiety in which I felt when he had cut himself."  
  
"You know that there has always been a bond between you, ever since you held him as a baby, you felt it. You saw innocence in his eyes, and my friend he is still so young with so much to learn.   
  
There is so much he has not experience, so little he has done. His life is filled with troubles, and he has never felt safe in his life, that is until you stood by him. You, Severus are his protector, not I."  
  
"I have enough to protect, my daughter, my wife, and myself. Why must it be I?"  
  
"Because it was your destiny. You know what I speak of." Albus said as Severus dropped his head.  
  
"Please, one little cryptic prediction and you twist it to make it sound like I am the boy's guardian angel?" Severus snorted.  
  
"You are his teacher, his guide, and up until now you have denied the boy the right to get to know you, the real you. There must come a point when you come clean."  
  
"I did tell him, about my brother, about his aunt. I showed him the wand." Severus said matter-o-factly.  
  
"Good, and what did he say of the wand?" Albus asked.  
  
"I have not told him what the encryption means. I got sidetracked telling about my brother and his aunt. Then I had to put Sylvia to bed."   
  
"Ah, well what about the stone?"  
  
"I gave it to him, but he did not show any recognition as to what he was to do with it."  
  
"Perhaps when the time is right he will know. Perhaps he knows, and we are not to be enlightened on the subject, whatever the case maybe, I am glad you have done these things. You have grown into a noble man Severus.   
  
All the years I have known you, and still you surprise me. I once saw something that you that even you didn't see. Now, you see something in Harry, that he does not see in himself. Just as I have mentored you, you are to mentor Harry."  
  
"You say I have become a noble man, but what will Potter think of me if he learns of the horrid thing I did as a Death Eater, and continue to do, just to help the Order." Severus asked.  
  
"What you do for the Order in necessary, if we did not have a contact within the ranks of the Death Eaters, we would be completely clueless as to proceed. I know you may not find this comforting but sacrifices must be made to win a war."  
  
"And who are you willing to sacrifice next?" Severus questioned.  
  
"I am not willing to do anything, it is just a matter of what must be done." Albus's eyes flared.  
  
"Then you are no better than him." Severus nearly spat, growing angry very quickly.  
  
"I know what you want, and do not misunderstand me, I do not want more deaths. That is the last thing I want. What happened to Sirius was of his own doing, you said so yourself." Albus said in a more gentle voice.  
  
"I realize that, but what if that next person is me?" Severus gulped down.  
  
Albus sat quiet, unsure how to respond. Severus had never once showed concern over himself, and this was quite unexpected, but not something the Headmaster did not like. Albus was glad Severus finally had some self-worth.  
  
"Are you asking to step down?" Albus said.  
  
Severus sat for a moment. He knew he couldn't get out, not until the Dark Lord was dead. If he were to leave, he would be killed, and that would achieve nothing.  
  
"No, I cannot. Forgive me I do not know what came over me."  
  
"It is perfectly natural Severus for you to feel this way, just rather unexpected, as you have never mentioned it before."  
  
"It is just that I couldn't bear my family having to go on without me. I look at Mr. Potter and I see the pain of loosing his godfather. I cannot wish that on my family."  
  
"I cannot promise you Severus, that you will be all right in the end, I cannot even promise that to myself. But, if you can promise me that you will do everything in your power to protect Harry, then I can promise that I will do everything in my power to see to it that you and your family are protected."  
  
Severus looked the Headmaster in the eye for a few seconds, and then replied:  
  
"I promise."  
  
Severus stood up and walked silently out of the Headmaster's office, thinking about everything that just had been said. The old man had gotten to him, Severus shook his head, wondering how he could do it to him every time.  
  
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS  
  
Severus walked down into Hogsmeade, and decided to have a quick drink before Apparating home. Unfortunately for him he ran into someone he wasn't expecting.  
  
"Severus?" Came a voice from the far end of the bar.  
  
Severus walked over into the poorly lit corner, and saw sitting in front of him one Remus J. Lupin.  
  
"Lupin." He grunted.  
  
"Didn't expect to see you here, of course maybe you would be the type to hang out here on the day after Christmas." Remus said rather bitterly. Severus noticed that he had had a few Firewhiskeys.  
  
"Something the matter Lupin, or is it that time of month?" Severus hissed.  
  
"Like you or anyone else in this godforsaken world cares." Remus said, very unlike him.  
  
"Lupin, I don't mean to sound like I care, but you sound upset, is something the matter?" Severus questioned, taking a seat next to the werewolf.  
  
"Why do you care, all you care about is your blood potions. You don't know what it is like living alone, no one who loves you." Remus said nearly sobbing now.  
  
"I think you have had enough to drink, and if you wouldn't mind cutting out the pity talk, I have already had quite enough of that, and I am bloody tired of saving everyone this week!" Severus spoke firmly.  
  
"What is that suppose to mean?" Remus asked.  
  
"Well, Potter decided to try and kill himself with a pair of scissors, lucky for him I found him and now the boy is staying at my house." Severus said plainly, like this was old news.  
  
"Why didn't any one tell me?" Remus asked alarmed.  
  
"Perhaps it was because we were unable to find you."  
  
"I was taking care of something. Is he all right? I knew something was wrong when I read his last letter to me, I should have told the Headmaster."   
  
Remus looked like a pathetic heap of clothing. Severus could tell that what he had been taking care of was his own transfiguration. Severus looked into his almost lifeless gray eyes, and fell pity. Severus wanted to mentally slap himself, first Potter, now Lupin, next thing you know he will be dressing up in a Santa outfit. No, he was becoming much too soft.  
  
"Now isn't that a brillant idea." Severus said as he rolled his eyes.  
"Wait, Harry is at your house?" Remus asked.  
  
"Yes, my house, as in the place where I dwell."  
  
"Well tell him that I will see him soon, and that if he needs to talk I am here." Remus said defeated.  
  
Severus knew all to well where this was headed, bloody Gryffindors can be more conniving than Slytherins.  
  
"Since, you apparently not busy, after all you look like you are dressed for a funeral, I suppose I can take you to see him." Severus said, good god he was getting soft.  
  
"I can?" Remus asked.  
  
"To your house?"  
  
"Yes to my house, shall I say it slower for you to comprehend.  
  
"Okay, thanks Severus, you don't have other plans?"  
  
"We are having lunch, but I suppose you may join us. However you may need to sober up a bit before I take you to my house." 'and maybe I need a few more drinks' Severus thought to himself.  
  
"Who is we?"  
  
"Ah, you will see we when we get there. First you need different clothes, you look worse than Potter did when he came to me." Severus commented.  
  
"These are the only clothes I have. I have torn all my others." Remus looked embarrassed.   
  
"Look, let us go back up to the castle, I can get you a Sober-me-Up potion, and a better set of clothes, then we can floo to my house. Will you be able to handle that?"  
  
"Thank you Severus. I know you don't think much of me, but I am glad you found me today, I was in real trouble."  
  
"Lucky Severus, always the one to help, or gets stuck helping." Severus said sarcastically.  
  
"So who are we having lunch with again?" Remus asked as they headed back towards the castle. 


	14. Reintroductions

**A/N: I know, it has been awhile, but I was in Orlando, thankfully right before the hurricane. My thoughts are with everyone effected by the hurricane.**

**Chapter 14**

After Severus managed to get the ragged man back to the castle and down to the dungeons, he was all ready starting to sober up. Severus found some semi casual trousers and a button down shirt. He hardly ever kept anything than his school robes in his chambers at the castle, but luckily, he had bought these at Hogsmeade right before the Christmas break.

"Thank you again Severus." Remus said as he finished buttoning up his shirt in the adjacent washroom.

"Listen, I don't take compliments well, so how about you quit while you're ahead." Severus said.

"Fine. So is Harry really at your house?" Remus asked now that he was a bit more clear headed.

"Yes, I am afraid so."

"Is he there by himself then, now?"

"No, my wife is with him." Severus said, turning around to see his face.

"What?" Remus said quickly.

"You remember Eowyn, do you not?" Severus said smoothly.

"Lily's friend?" Remus's voice went up a half octave.

"Yes, Lily's friend, is there another Eowyn?" Severus said sarcastically.

"You married Eowyn MacDouglas?"

"Apparently when you have a wife, at one point you have to get married."

"When did you get married?" Remus asked as he finished buttoning up his shirt.

"A year after I started to teach."

"Oh." Was all Remus could say.

Dobby came running in to the Potion Master's classroom, his ears flopping as he ran.

"Professor Snape, sir Headmaster Dumbledore wanted me to ask if you have seen Professor Lupin, sir, or if you knew where he was." Dobby said nearly out of breath.

"You can tell the Headmaster to stop worrying." Remus said as Dobby spun around to see the man standing before him.

"Very good, sir, I will be going now." Dobby squeaked.

Severus remembered the promise he had made to Harry, and spoke up quickly.

"Dobby, tell the Headmaster that Mr. Potter apologizes for his behavior the other day." Severus said silkily.

"Anything for Harry Potter sir! Tell him I say hello, if you please." Dobby laughed.

"Very well, good day Dobby." Severus dismissed the house elf and made his way over to the fireplace.

"Can we go now, we are already two minutes late." Severus said naggingly.

"Yeah, sure." Remus put on his all purpose coat and walked to Severus's fireplace.

"Good, now to get to my household, you must pronounce 'Snake's skin'" Severus explained.

"All right." With that, Remus and Severus arrived a few moments later on his living room floor. Remus had some how managed to speed up and fall over Severus as they exited.

"Get off me, wolf!" Severus grumbled.

Remus did not respond, he was too busy looking around Snape's house.

"Well you certainly made an entrance." Eomer said trying hard not to laugh at the sight of the two men sprawled out on the living room floor.

"Sorry about that Severus, I guess my head is still a little foggy." Remus said dusting himself off.

"Remus?" Harry asked walking towards the commotion.

"Harry, it seems that I have been granted a visitation with you." Remus said looking Harry up and down.

"Yeah, well I suppose you heard then what happened." Harry said timidly.

"Yes, unfortunately I just found out, I really wish you would have come out and told me how bad off you were feeling." Remus said patting the boy on his back.

"I don't think I even knew how bad off I was until that night." Harry said.

"I hope you know that you can talk to me about anything, or talk to the Headmaster for that matter. There are people all around you who care for you."

"Thanks." Harry said looking at Remus.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Eowyn was busy in the kitchen preparing the turkey and bussels sprouts. Sylvia was in the bathroom trying to put her hair in a ponytail.

"Uncle Eomer!" She yelled from the back bathroom.

"What is it Sylvia?" Eomer asked as he paused from talking to Severus about how his visit to the Headmaster's went.

"I can't get my hair up, can you do it for me?" She yelled back.

"Shall I ask your mother to help you?"

"No, I want you." She whined.

"Come on Eomer, I am sure a manly man like yourself can put a six year old's hair in an elastic in no time." Severus chided.

"Fine, but I would like to see you try." Eomer said as he walked back towards the bathroom.

"Eowyn, I have brought a beggar to Christmas dinner." Severus called out.

"Severus Snape, what on earth..." Eowyn asked as she wiped her hands on her apron and emerged from the kitchen.

"Remus?" She asked surprised.

"Eowyn MacDouglas, how are you?" Remus asked as he walked towards her.

"I am all right, and yourself? I haven't seen you in years!"

"I know, well, I thought you had disappeared, and here all this time you have been married, to Severus no less."

"I am standing right here." Severus said making his presence known.

"Yes, well, so glad you could come for dinner, it will be ready in a few minutes, then we can have a longer chat."

"Do you care for any help Eowyn?" Remus asked.

"No, I can manage, besides that is what husbands are good at." She said looking at Severus and smiled.

Eowyn practically drug Severus into the kitchen to help, while Harry and Remus sat alone in the drawing room.

"I didn't know you knew Mrs. Snape." Harry said somewhat surprised.

"I knew her along time ago, I had no idea she was alive, or even married."

"Well, I bet that came as a surprise to find out that she was married, and to Professor Snape no less."

"I know, I still cannot quite believe it." Remus said smoothing down the back of his hair.

"You haven't seen all of it yet." Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

Harry did not need to finish the question because there in front of him stood Severus's daughter, Sylvia, with her hair a mess of elastics and bumps.

"Hello, I am Sylvia Lillian Snape, and I am six, how old are you?" She asked without taking a breath.

"Hello there, I am very old, but not as old as your father." Remus whispered. Smiling at Harry as he said it.

"Dinner's ready." Eowyn called from the dinning room.

"Yay, I am starving, come on Harry, I want you to sit by me!" Sylvia exclaimed taking hold of Harry's hand.

"I see you have made yourself a friend." Remus said as they walked into the dinning room.

"Yes, it isn't so bad here, I actually am really liking it. Surprisingly Severus is a better father than a teacher, and well something about him when he is around his family, he is different."

"There is good in all people Harry, I think sometimes Severus forgets that he has goodness in himself, and it is obvious that his family brings it out in him." Remus said as they took their seats.

SSSSSSSSSSSSS

Everyone took their seats around the table, Severus sat at the head, while Eowyn sat to his right, and Eomer to his left. Sylvia was positioned between Eomer and Harry, who sat across from Severus. That left Remus next to Eowyn and Harry.

"Severus, why don't you say something before we start eating." Eowyn suggested.

"Well this was not the Christmas vacation I was originally planning. Sitting across from me is my childhood enemy's son." He paused for a moment.

"I did not expect him to take a liking to my family, and I certainly did not expect that I would like him in return.

I am lucky this year to have my wife, my daughter and my brother in-law, while at times is not the best hair brusher, I have learned to over look his faults this year, and accept him at this table."

"Finally, it seemed as if fate truly had it in for me, running in to Remus Lupin. I suppose everyone deserves a chance, after all it is what the Headmaster gave to me. He may not be the best dresser, or have an appreciation to fine potion making, but he is the most loyal man I have ever met next to Dumbledore, and I am glad that we are on the same side." Severus said clearing his throat.

"All right, enough of this sappy holiday spirit let's eat." Severus finished.

**Up Next: Dinner or lunch as we sometimes call it, is served.**


End file.
